Ignition
by Weldon Kenfield
Summary: What happens when a twin of Anna arrives in Arendelle, with the powers of flame? Time travel will be a major part of this story. T for safesies. [Kristoff, Anna]
1. Chapter 1 - Waking Up

**Ignition – A Frozen Fanfiction**

by Weldon Kenfield

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Frozen. This should be apparent. I also do not own any of the characters or plots of Frozen. This should be just as obvious. The only things I DO own are my plot elements and any characters I make up.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Waking up_

It was dark. Oh so very dark. I couldn't move, couldn't think, nor see due to an absence of light. A sharp ringing in my ears ruled that source of information out too. My motor skills would not respond, and as such, I was immobilized for the time being. The only thing that was working, it seemed, were my memories and conscious thought. I desperately tried to remember, to find some clue as to what was happening; but my mind betrayed me, offering naught as an answer. I had not lost my memory, but it contained nothing which could offer any help in my current state. Nor could it provide a reason for my current predicament.

The last thing I remembered was walking down my neighborhood road, greeting the small children playing in their yards. I was on my way home from a day's work, tiresome as it was, but interesting and intellectually stimulating as well. After entering my home, I sat down under a lamp, and began to read. I had indeed needed to rest, as my legs refused to move after I retired to my reading chair. The contents of the book I had picked to relax with were beyond my mind at the moment, but the memories could provide the length of time before my body went to bed without my consent. _That explains the backache_, I thought to nobody in particular. I would have spoken this, but my speech seemed to be working just as well as the other functions of my body were currently. Reading chairs were not meant for sleeping on.

It seemed that I had done everything normally after my day of work, besides falling asleep in my chair. I suddenly had a terrifying thought: _What if I had paralyzed myself somehow?_ Wherever my body was, the area started heating up, almost as if in response to my calamity. I swore that my hearing had returned, because I suddenly picked out the crackling of many flames, nearly to the volume of a forest fire. I was in full panic mode at this point, because humans and fire generally do not exist in the same area very well. I had to get away from wherever I was, but before that, I had to gain control of my body back.

I struggled in my dark mental space to reacquire connection with my extremities. With great mental effort, my fingers brushed together. _Good, that's a start_, I whispered to myself, both calming me down and bringing to my attention that my speech was once more functional. Once more, something strange occurred, with the raging inferno of wind and heat dying down to merely a small sea of popping sounds. _Heat_, I thought to myself, realizing I had the sensation of touch back across my entire body.

I immediately noticed something odd about that sensation. I couldn't put my finger on it quite yet, but something was up with my body. It was... weird. It's as if some areas of skin had ceased to exist, and in those areas, a feeling not unlike sandpaper's rub was present. _If I just recovered from paralyzation, that might cause this. Though I've never heard of this happening before_, I mused, distracting me from the dire situation I was in. Not surprisingly, however, I felt the heat around me leave completely, the crackling and popping of the flames gone. I instantly put two and two together to figure out that _the fire was controlled by my emotional state._ I'd never heard of fire doing that before, so a twofer had been pulled on me by wherever I was. It could be a coincidence, but the likelihood of that was second to none.

The second to last sense I regained was smell. What little wind there was around me brought burnt carbon and ash toward my nostrils; I recoiled and my hand landed on what must have been the border of the fire, as the ground felt like dust. Warily, I turned my head and opened my eyes, to take a look at what had been mere meters away from my body; My eyes were not yet adjusted, but I could see basic shapes and colors. _That black ground does not look comforting_, I thought, and sat up, waiting for my eyes to come into focus. My hands were situated behind my back, propping me up with what little strength I had. The expansive remains of the field I was in caught my eyes, which widened to their maximum: the entire area was charred, burnt grass, trees and bushes dotting the landscape.

I looked down, and noticed three things. One; I was sitting on a circular patch of green grass, the only oasis in this destroyed wasteland, Two; I was wearing a dress, and Three; I had a chest which extended much farther than normal, ending in two mounds.

The sudden shock of this realization and the ordeal I had already been through overtook me, and I fell to the ground, slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was two long, golden red, braids of hair.

**End Chapter 1.**

**Author's Footnote:**

This is a short chapter. The others in this story are much longer.


	2. Chapter 2 - Fire from the sky

**Chapter 2**

_Fire from the sky_

Anna was ecstatic. She jumped for joy, bounding up and down the hall outside Elsa's room, with a grin threatening to crack open her face, and belting at the top of her lungs "Do You Want to Build a Snowman". She figured that eventually, Elsa would get annoyed and drop what she was doing just to get Anna to be quiet. The rendition of her song was sloppy, at best, due to the constant spring in her step jostling the princess's lungs up and down.

What seemed like an eternity passed by, and though Anna's stamina was startling even to Arendellian athletes, she began to tire out. Continually (more or less) singing and running laps around a hallway drew too much strength for her to keep going. Even though she was spent, she paced in front of Elsa's door, trying to think of any way she could to get inside. _Maybe I should knock_, she thought, right before deciding to go through with her idea. Anna approached the door, and lightly made her signature knock; the door proceeded to swing open. She had to resist all her instincts to whap herself in the forehead as she hissed at her own stupidity. _The door wasn't even closed_, she grumbled to herself, pushing it open and walking in.

Elsa sat in her reading chair, peering over her chosen book's top edge. Her cerulean eyes were alight with mischief, and she was positively beaming at her sister's plight. Upon seeing this, Anna screwed up her face into a scowl, slightly yelling, "Elsa! Why did you let me stay out there like that! That was mean". She was blushing crazily, embarrassed beyond belief. The usually wide and deep blue of her eyes was overshadowed by mock hurt and grief, as she put on her best pout for Elsa's benefit. Of course, her sister didn't believe it in the least, knowing Anna far too well at this point, and simply cracked out a retort through her huge smile; "It was much more fun listening to you wail your lungs out, not knowing that my door was already open." Elsa shook her head at Anna's defiant look, adding "You should have checked to see if the door was open first, Anna. I was fighting the urge to laugh myself silly because of your lack of perception."

"I know, I know...", the rowdy princess glumly agreed, "but what you did was still mean, Elsa!" Anna looked to the floor, scuffling her feet. "I thought you might... might be shutting me out again." The last part came as barely a whisper, but Elsa heard it. She leapt to her feet, surprising Anna with a huge, sisterly hug. "I'll never shut you out again, Anna. You know that." After Anna relaxed from the shock of a sudden balance shift, they remained in the embrace for what seemed like minutes. Anna withdrew from the hug, and Elsa held her at arm's length, wiping away the tears rolling down her sister's cheek. Wishing to confirm her earlier assumption, she pondered to Anna "You... DO know that, don't you?" Anna looked up at Elsa's loving face and nodded, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "I know. It just takes a while, after what you put me through, you know?" Elsa, somewhat shocked, stiffened. "Anna, I'm sorry I put you through those years. I have no excuses worth that isolation, but I will continue to try to make up for it for the rest of our lives," she choked out, nearly to tears herself, "I will never shut you out again, Anna."

Just as Anna was about to reply, she saw the sky darken rapidly outside Elsa's window. Completely forgetting about her feelings, she stood with her mouth agape as the gray cone of cloud touched the ground a ways from the castle. "Elsa! There's a... a thing, behind you! I can't explain it, just look!" Twirling around, but being careful not to knock Anna's head off her shoulders, Elsa aligned with the window. She knew exactly what that was. She'd never seen one in person before, of course, but the stories of the destruction these weather events caused made her spine tingle. "Tornado," Elsa exclaimed, immediately fearing for Arendelle. "Anna, I have to go stop this thing! It'll wreck everything in it's path!" She had spun around at this point, and Anna could see the abject terror in her eyes. She could feel it as well, given the frost spreading rapidly from Elsa's feet, covering her room in the Queen's emotions.

"Not without me, you don't," Anna exclaimed, putting her hand on Elsa's shoulder just as Elsa had done a few minutes earlier. "I won't let you go without me!" she said as the Queen began to tell her to stay put. Elsa, seeing the determination in her sister's stance, caved. "Fine. But on one condition – if I tell you to run, you run. No looking back, and don't try to help me." Smirking, the reply was simple; "No promises." Elsa shook her head, thinking with pride, _That's my sister. Staying by my side against everything in the world telling her to do the opposite, including myself._

The sisters bolted out Elsa's door, taking a sharp right to the hallway, then a sharp left to traverse the stairs. Anna, in her endless energy, having been refreshed by her reconciliation with Elsa, slid down the banister railing, grabbing a dirty look from Kai, the castle butler. He yelled after her, "Be more careful, Your Highness!", before shaking his head and resuming his duties. "_Little good it'd do, she's never listened to anyone telling her to slow down_," he muttered to himself. The sisters could not hear this, however; they were on a dead sprint out of the castle courtyard, and were already halfway across the bridge to town. People in the village had already begun to take notice of the tornado, and were panicking. The appearance of their Queen and princess helped calm their nerves some, and a few even cheered as the royals ran past. Anna, always the social flower, waved back as much as she could, nearly tripping over her skirt in doing so. Only Elsa's timely, stabilizing arm kept her from getting a makeover from the paving stones.

The tornado had changed at this point. Elsa couldn't put her finger on it, but it was different from what she had seen out her window. _It was also remaining in the same place_, she thought, _tornadoes aren't supposed to do that_. They were getting closer to the site, and already she could feel her panic rushing over her self-control, threatening to unleash eternal winter upon Arendelle once more. _Let it go_, she repeated to herself, over and over inside her mind. While it did little to help, she was at least not losing control anymore. Lost in thought, she didn't notice that which Anna did; "Elsa! The tornado! It's orange!" Looking up, Elsa nearly tripped over her feet from shock. It was indeed orange, the deep orange of wild flames. "I've never heard of them changing color from grey, Anna! I don't know what we're dealing with!" she tried to shout over the roaring wind, wondering if Anna had heard the message. The terrified look on Anna's face told her all she needed to know. "Anna, stand back!" Elsa yelled, willing her emotions to broil to the surface. She channeled her will into her fingers, and fired beams of ice at the tornado.

They evaporated to mist before they even got close. _What? My ice never melts without my command!_ Elsa thought, her mind racing for an explanation as she stood dumbstruck, looking from her hands to the tornado and back again. Her mouth was agape, the look on her face one of utter shock. She glanced at Anna, and her face told a similar story. As if to keep them from standing there, wondering what to do, a rushing noise not unlike that of a ship closing the distance with a human being began, growing louder and louder. A blinding light appeared inside the tornado, close to cloud level. The royal sisters had to shield their eyes from the equivalent of a star shining in their faces. The light rapidly began approaching the ground at the base of the tornado, along with the sound becoming louder.

When the light hit the ground, it erupted in flames, scorching a huge area of grassland around it. The meager snow which had been on the ground evaporated as if it had never been there, and raging wildfires danced throughout the scorched area. A sound like a giant hammer hitting an anvil rang out; Elsa and Anna were thrown backwards by a powerful force, just before the heat wave hit them. Anna could barely stand it, but Elsa the worst affected. She screamed in pain, the heat overloading her senses and causing her to faint from the pressure building in her skull. She slumped to the ground, hands held to the sides of her head. Anna ran to her side, cradling her like a newborn. After checking to make sure her sister was okay and breathing normally, Princess Anna of Arendelle looked over to where the tornado was, or more accurately, had been.

In it's place was a scorched circle of ground, easily 200 meters across. The flames which had overtaken that area were gone, leaving behind nothing but charred ground and ash. In the center of this area, there was a small oasis of untouched ground, grass green and alive. The snow had still melted off it, though. Upon that ground lay a figure, definitely human, looking like they were passed out. Anna, the bleeding heart that she was, checked once more to make sure Elsa was fine, seeing her chest rise and fall, and then ran towards the mysterious figure. As she neared it, she noticed that the figure was feminine, with long hair, so red it looked like fire itself, made up in a very similar way to her own hairstyle; a twin, over-the-shoulder braid, ending below her shoulders.

Moving ever closer to the woman, Anna noticed even more similarities. This woman was wearing her dress. The dress that she had on right now. The color was identical, the rosemaling along the bodice could not have been a more perfect match. _She stole my dress!,_ Anna deduced, oddly unconcerned with the rest of the strange similarities. Her dress was sacred! **Nobody** stole her dress! Angry now, she finished her approach in a slight run. What she saw when she finally got a view of the woman's face gave her a fright unlike any she'd ever had before. Her whole body freezing solid on the fjord before Han's sword could kill Elsa didn't even compare. _I must be dreaming. Or having a nightmare_, Anna thought, wiping her eyes to make sure they were working correctly. They were. She pinched herself, multiple times. _Not a dream, then. _She stumbled backwards, landing on her bum in the ash and soot-covered ground.

The woman looked just like her. The only difference between them was the color of their hair.

**Author's Footnote:**

Well, that realization sure was something, wasn't it! I tried experimenting with dialogue in this chapter, in order to prep for Chapter 3 (which will contain a **lot** of dialogue). How can Anna have a twin, though? Is this woman even a twin? We'll see.


	3. Chapter 3 - Contradictory Evidence

**Chapter 3**

_Contradictory Evidence_

Anna was drawn out of her stupor by the rapid back-and-forth motions of someone shaking her shoulders. As the shock began to wear off, her logical mind returned, beginning to wonder how it was possible for her to be in two places at once. She could not tear her gaze from the woman on the ground, however; she resigned to study her counterpart's face in greater detail. Her eyes swept from the woman's forehead to her neck, discerning what differences, if any, existed between them.

The woman had Anna's rosy cheeks, sprayed with freckles to an almost reckless abandon. The small button nose extending upward to her high eyebrows was furrowed with pain, possibly from some kind of nightmare. Anna's long neck was there as well, and what she could see of the woman's ears were just as round as hers were. _Identical in every way_, she mused, _except for that crimson hair_. Feeling her paralysis of fear leave her frame, Anna decided to deal with the person who was still shaking her shoulders, which was starting to make her neck hurt.

Turning her head to stare down the eyes of the offender, ready to unleash her best impersonation of Elsa's regal air, she began to open her mouth with a scolding upon her tongue. What she saw struck down any thought of a scolding; the distressed, very worried Kristoff looked down upon her, still shaking her shoulders, and mouthing something. _Why is he not speaking?_ Anna asked herself. She looked around, listening for other sounds. None came to her ears. _I'm deaf!?_ She thought in a panic, starting to scramble up to her feet, shaking her head and willing her hearing to return.

Kristoff was still shaking her shoulders. Hearing or not, she was fed up with the sick feeling her head was swimming in from the constant motion, and as such, grabbed his arms and tossed them aside. Her unnatural strength prevailed, tossing Kristoff off his feet and flat on his face upon the charred ground. Finding this immensely funny, Anna burst into light, hearty laughter at his predicament. He picked himself up off the ground, dusting off his pants and rubbing the ash off his face. Kristoff glared at her, mouthing what must have been "Think that was funny, do you?", though Anna could still not hear. She nodded, still chuckling to herself. After reaching behind her dress to her bum and dusting it off, she spoke, trying to enunciate her words so as to prevent sounding like an idiot. "I can't hear anything, Kristoff. Not right now." She wasn't sure if she succeeded in speaking legibly, but he nodded, at least getting the gist of her message.

_Oh no, Elsa!_ Anna remembered her sister's state, finally tearing her attention from her twin. She bolted over to Elsa, who was being put on a stretcher by two members of the Arendelle Royal Guard. She looked paler than normal, and her normally kept up white hair was frayed, blown out of it's signature braid by the explosion they had endured earlier. Anna cursed herself for not worrying about her more, and sooner, as she tightly gripped Elsa's hand in her own two. She took a further, closer examination of Elsa's state, trying to use her limited nursing knowledge to her advantage. It did not take a doctor's eye, however, to see that which brought a chill colder than the frozen fjord to her spine; Elsa had a long strand of crimson hair staining her snow white locks. Anna could feel her heart dropping by the second, as she immediately put her hand to her sister's head, hoping against hope that what she feared was not present. Unfortunately, her hand met what felt like a wall of fire. Elsa was burning up, like no other fever she had ever felt. Anna's hands dropped to her mouth, as she stumbled backwards, tripping over the ground in her sorrow.

Yet again, she was saved from a meeting with the paving stones by someone else, this time her beloved Kristoff. As he looked down upon the girl he'd just rescued from a bruised head, he observed that the fjord itself seemed to be pouring from her eyes, which were staring straight ahead at Elsa. He too turned to look upon the unconscious Queen, when his eyes landed upon the thing which had brought so much fright to his beloved. "Shit", he cursed, not quite caring for formalities given the situation he now found himself in. He clutched Anna to his chest, trying to comfort her even as his mind raced to understand the situation he now found himself in. _There's a twin of Anna unconscious in the middle of a charred field, my Anna is beyond the point of breaking down, and Elsa looks to be cursed. Great. I was just getting used to an uneventful life!_ Kristoff griped to himself. _Oh, and my Anna is currently deaf, too. Right._ Given that he was the only person in a position of authority able to function, the Royal Guard looked to him for directions.

Still cradling Anna, he began barking out orders, however shakily. "Those carrying Elsa, head to the infirmary immediately. Someone get a second stretcher for the woman in the field." He paused, looking back toward her, still marveled at the impossibility of Anna's twin. "That woman is not Anna, no matter how much she looks like her. Take her to the infirmary as well." The Royal Guard nodded, saluted Kristoff, and set about their tasks. One of the newer recruits asked, "What of Princess Anna?", worry on his face as he looked to the sobbing mess in Kristoff's arms. "I will take her back to the castle, don't you worry.", he replied, swooping Anna into his arms bridal style. "Sven! Sven, where are you!" he called out to his best friend, knowing he could not carry Anna all the way back. He was strong from his many years of ice harvesting, but Anna was much heavier than she appeared. _Not that I'd ever tell her that again_, he thought, blushing at the reaction he imagined from her. The look of mock pain on her face as she'd scold him about remarking on a woman's weight. He'd already made this mistake before, given he was not used to societal norms. Kristoff didn't particularly care for them either, but if he was to be a Prince, he'd have to at least pretend to follow them. And he'd do anything for Anna, so that was that.

Sven finally approached the couple, having bolted across town when he heard the long distant cry of his friend. Worried reindeer eyes looked upon Anna, still crying in Kristoff's arms, eyes as red as her rosy cheeks. No instruction was needed from Kristoff, as Sven turned and offered his back to the couple. "Anna, you need to get on Sven. I can't carry you back to the castle," Kristoff remarked, gently moving her near the reindeer's back. Still sniffling, she nodded, and climbed onto Sven. Her look was crestfallen at best, depressed at worst, and her boyfriend feared for her mental stability. He got onto Sven's back as well, and wrapped his arms around her, as he told the reindeer to return to the castle. Nodding, Sven set off, at a pace not quite running, but just short of tossing his riders off. He wanted to let Anna stay on him, which was hard to do, given her weak grip around his neck.

Anna was a hardy woman, but even she had a breaking point. Seeing a twin of herself, not to mention one which had arrived upon something which had most likely cursed her sister and sent her into an comatose, fevered state, had done it. She wept openly, her heart cracked in two. The sister she was just getting to know again after over 13 years of isolation was in mortal danger, and she was the only one who had any experience in the magical. Anna was stuck between a rock and a hard place, with a heart split down the middle. Elsa's predicament had struck the sister almost as hard as Elsa's ice magic had struck her last year, ending in her body freezing. Her emotions were getting the better of her, as they always did, which seemed to be a common theme among her family. Elsa's emotions were not well controlled either. This much had been proven at her coronation, despite the outburst being Anna's fault. Once they entered the castle, Anna would have to be strong, but for now, her weeping was fine with her. Kristoff and Sven didn't seem to mind either.

* * *

When Anna and Kristoff finally got to the castle gates, Anna had her war face on once more. Her eyes were still red, but the color was fading fast, and her tears had all but disappeared. She had the cloak of royalty on her shoulders once more, holding them up proudly, her face a mask of kind indifference. Kristoff was used to this side of Anna, and as such paid it no mind; he took Sven to the castle stables, allowing Anna to continue alone. She'd insisted that he take care of Sven first, then meet her in the infirmary when he was done. He'd grudgingly agreed, but had told her to take care of herself, or else she'd be no use to her sister. Anna had taken the advice to heart, and was now walking up the steps to the castle doors.

Anna's hands betrayed her emotional state, trembling as she laid them upon the stone castle doors. Closing her eyes, she wished her heart to stop it's sorrow, pushing her emotions down into herself. _Conceal, don't feel_, she chanted, wincing at the phrase that had kept Elsa separated from her most of her life. Normally, she would never have even thought of emulating her sister, but now was a time she could not afford to lose her sanity. With Elsa down for the count, the city in a panic, and nobody else left to rule, she was it. Her kingdom would look to her for answers she could not give, for a beacon of strength amongst the dark times. For Elsa, if not for everyone, she had to steel herself to the outside world, and most importantly, the internal one.

Finally done battling with herself, Anna pushed the doors open, to be greeted by a main hall bustling with activity. The hall had been converted to an emergency triage, with the castle's doctors rushing around to help wounded citizens. She had no idea the tornado had caused this much damage; indeed, she thought the only area touched was where she and Elsa had been. Noticing the Royal Doctor, Adrian, surrounded by people blathering for his attention, she thought back to the times she'd shared with this insane man.

Adrian was a large man. He was not as muscular as the Royal Guard, and certainly lacked the strength of the Ice Harvesters of the north, but was still stronger than most people. His body seemed like it could have supported the life of a harvester, but he chose a different path. One of the sciences, math, and medicine. Aside from being the castle's head medical officer, he also held the title of Royal Scholar. The large collection of books in the castle's library was mainly his doing. Adrian wore a large white coat he'd dubbed a "Lab Coat", which held pens in a pocket sewed to the front. He always had a pair of glasses on his head, mostly worn in his hair more than over his eyes, but whenever he was doing something dangerous, he'd slide them down to his face.

He and Anna had bonded over the many years of isolation she'd endured, but he was often too busy running the kingdom in later years to visit with her much. When he did have free time, he'd brought Anna into his wing of the castle, dubbed the "Science Wing" by none other than himself, inside which they'd run crazy "experiments". Anna chuckled to herself at this memory, as the experiments usually ended up with some kind of strange goo covering either Anna or Adrian. She credited him, more so than Joan and the paintings on the walls, for her mental stability during the isolation.

He had been the one to watch over Arrendale those three years until Elsa came of age, and as Anna learned after the Great Thaw, he'd known about Elsa's powers from the very beginning. The second she learned that from her sister, Anna had charged over to the Science Wing and pummeled Adrian until he talked, telling her that her late parents had ordered him to keep silent, which could only be overridden by Elsa when she was crowned Queen. Which she had promptly done, he added, thus allowing him to tell her as such. Anna seemed to be fine with that, and she helped him complete the experiment he'd been running when she barged in. Of course, this ended up with purple goo all over Anna, so she'd retired to her chambers to bathe and sleep.

Her mind returning to the present, and utilizing her unnatural strength, she stepped toward him while pushing the crowd apart. When Anna finally reached Adrian, she asked "Why are there all these wounded people here?" She caught herself as she realized she'd said something extremely insensitive, "I mean, not why are they here in the castle, but why are they wounded in the first place?" Adrian turned to her, immediately recognizing her, and reported. "The shockwave from the explosion rippled through the town, apparently. It caused houses to collapse in on themselves, and firewood to fly through the air at high speeds. Most of these injuries are from that," he paused, shaking his head in disgust, "and a few are from a couple fights which broke out due to panic. Idiots, the lot of of them." Adrian had always viewed Humanity as a race of children, save for those enlightened by science.

Anna looked around the room, seeing some people glaring at each other. "I'm guessing it's those guys over there?" she asked the doctor, and seeing his nod, began to stomp over to them. "Don't do anything rash, Anna!" Adrian called behind her, but his words seemed lost on the angry Princess. She stormed up to the group of mostly male citizens, a glower on her face and fists balled in anger. The temperature in her body rose a bit like it always did when she was angry, but she paid it no mind. She passed by a cot upon which a mess of red hair lived, extending down into a fit body with a bow across her back. The girl was yelling at the nurse attending her in a very Scottish accent, "I don't need none of yer wee 'medicine', missy! I can hold me own against me own bruises!" Anna, determined not to let her focus waver, simply smirked at the sight and continued across the room. She needed someone to take her frustration out on, and these ruffians were the perfect vent.

* * *

After dealing with the brawling idiots, Anna felt better, if only a little, some of her pent up rage and pain dealt out. Returning to Adrian, she saw the smile on his face, threatening to split it open. "What? Why are you grinning like that, Adrian?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking him dead in the eyes. The reply she got surprised her; "You reminded me so much of Elsa, the way you carried yourself through that confrontation," he lamented, but realized his mistake too late. Anna's face had returned to it's previously dread-filled caricature, and she was starting to panic. "Where is Elsa, Adrian!?" she nearly screamed, her mind finally returning to the place she'd been avoiding this entire time. "Relax. I've put both her and your... twin in the Royal Infirmary," he said, smiling once more as Anna seemed to relax, "Elsa is fine. Her fever has gone down and she's sleeping soundly," he reassured the Princess. "As for the other woman, I don't know what's wrong with her. Physically, she's in perfect shape, but she's pretty much comatose," Adrian mused, grabbing his small beard between two fingers, dragging them down repeatedly, as he usually did when he was thinking hard.

Anna remembered something, and grief appeared on her face once more, despite the previous assurances the doctor had given her. "What of Elsa's curse?" she asked him, with panic in her eyes. Adrian looked at her like she'd grown another head. "What curse? Did she hit you again!?" he nearly shouted, frantically grabbing Anna's head, searching for a white streak. Thankfully, there was none. "Not MY curse, Elsa's! She has a crimson streak in her hair, just like the white one you're searching for now!", Anna grunted, pushing the doctor's examining hands away. Sighing at her rejection of his medical analysis, he spoke with a gruff voice; "She had no such streak when I received her in the infirmary. Her hair is as white, if not more white than it has always been." Anna let out the breath she realized she'd been holding in upon this news, relieved that the sister she loved so much was not going to perish.

Anna abandoned the Royal Doctor, running to the door of the ballroom. Before she reached it, she thought to look back and ask across the room, "Adrian, may I see her?" The doctor barely started responding with yes before she was through the doors, running across the massive ballroom Elsa always played snow games with her in, at speeds a Princess of her size should not have been able to reach. She bolted up the stairwell, nearly crashing into Gerda, the castle's head housemaid, and second mother to Anna after her parents died. Gerda merely shook her head after rescuing the tea which had nearly hit the floor after Anna's flight toward her. _Going to get her killed one day, that energy will_, she thought.

Anna burst through the next set of doors, entering the dining hall. _Glad nobody is in here_, she thought, as she rounded the edge of the stairs to the third floor of the castle. Still sprinting, she reached the top of the stairs, and headed right. Running down the long corridor, she nearly forgot where she was; specifically, the opposite side of the castle from the infirmary. "_Crud_," she cursed under her breath, doing a quick spin and bolting the other way. Kai was exiting from the library and narrowly avoided yet another side-on collision with the speeding Princess. Seeing his earlier remark to her made no difference, he muttered angrily, and simply continued on with his duties.

The rapidly moving Princess rounded several corners in the maze of corridors that was the Arendelle castle, until she finally made it to the double, white doors that marked the infirmary. Painted on them was the universal sign of the medical field; the red, equally sized cross. Placing her hand on the doorknob, and fearing the worst, she entered. What she saw quelled her fear in a heartbeat. Elsa and her twin were each on a medical cot, near each other but separated by a good few meters. The Queen was sleeping soundly, with a smile on her face, and looked as relaxed as if she had just laid down for one of her naps after dealing with the piles upon piles of royal paperwork she had to deal with daily. _Paperwork_, Anna thought happily, if slightly guiltily, _which I will never have the patience to help with_.

She ran to her sleeping sister, and sat down in the provided visitor's chair next to her cot. A nurse was next to her, slowly marking down things on a clipboard. Anna paid her no heed, as she caressed the hands capable of inflicting great suffering, as they had in the past, but also great joy. She began to speak to Elsa, hoping that in her sleep she could hear her. "I'm here for you, Elsa. I'm pretty sure you know my voice by heart now, but just in case, it's Anna." She knew sometimes comatose patients awakened without their memories, and wanted to make sure Elsa did not lose hers. "I'm your sister. I'll always be here for you, so don't die on me, okay?" The Princess chuckled at her last sentence. Adrian had told her Elsa would be fine, so she didn't understand why she was so worried. But she was. It was irrational, but Anna was an irrational person. It was irrational to chase after a sister with magical ice powers in a blizzard of her own making, clothed in a ball dress no less. But she'd done it. _Alone, and with no weapons or warm clothes to boot_, she chided herself, _though I was an idiot at that time, so I guess I can forgive myself_. She blushed, having embarrassed herself to herself, and simply tucked some hair behind her head.

After what seemed like hours passed, Kristoff entered the infirmary. "What took you so long?" Anna asked, much obliged to see the guilty look on his face. "I got caught up helping move more cots into the triage in the main hall, Anna. I couldn't let people suffer," he remarked, looking to her to accept his nature. Of course, she'd already accepted said nature when she hooked up with him last summer. The apology, and the acceptance of it went without words, and Anna drew him into a tight hug, simply happy to have a pillar of strength to match her own in times when she needed one. Like today. They embraced for a couple of minutes, she breathing her daily struggles out into the air, and him helping the process along by his tight hug. When they stepped back from each other, Anna's normally cheerful demeanor had returned, and Kristoff had a smile on his face as well.

"Now, as much as I enjoy cuddling you, Anna," the ice harvester began, "I'd really like to figure out how you can be on that cot over there and in my arms at the same time." Anna screwed up her face in mock insult as she retorted with "Well it's obviously not me, Kristoff! I can't believe you'd insult the Princess of Arendelle like that!" she scoffed, and turned her head to the side, a smile on her face larger than it seemed able to bear. With that, her boyfriend went up to her and began tickling her sides. "Yep, you're definitely Anna. Nobody else is this ticklish," he said, beaming at her and enjoying the teasing he was able to pull off. It was usually Anna who teased him, not the other way around, but today he had the upper hand.

"Okay, okay, stop!" she yelled, trying to push back against Kristoff's face, "You win! Let me go!" He kept on messing with her for a few more seconds before finally allowing her to push him away. Brushing her singed, hole-bearing dress off, Anna glared at him before adopting a regal air and walking towards her twin. The ice harvester sighed. _I'll pay for that sometime tomorrow, probably_,he thought glumly, and followed her at a short distance. His eyes began to drift down to her swaying hips, before he snapped his head back up, avoiding the dangerous line of thinking which began there. As they approached the twin's cot, the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up. Grunting, he attempted to smooth them down with one hand, but they merely bent under his palm and returned to their standing position. Twice more he tried pushing them down, but to no avail; the stubby stems were rigid as pine trees. Kristoff was much too occupied with this to notice his arm hair stand on end as well.

Giving up, he returned his attention to Anna. She was much closer to her twin than he was, and was just about to grab her shoulders in an attempt to wake her. _You can't wake comatose people, Anna_, he smirked to himself, and approached her to tell her as such. He was prevented from doing so by a freezing touch; spinning around, he found himself face to face with Elsa, her hand gripping his arm in death's vice. She was different, though. Drastically different. The normally white-blonde hair she kept in a braid at all times was glowing, snow seeming to dance around each strand. It splayed out behind her in a wave, oscillating like the ocean's surface. She was wearing an ice dress like none he'd ever seen; thick with what seemed to be armored sheets of very thick ice, denser than even the glaciers themselves. And her eyes... Kristoff could not bear to look at them. They were inhuman. Her pupils glowed with an unearthly white, almost ghost-like in appearance. Whatever had happened to her, this was not the Elsa he knew. This was not Anna's sister.

Wishing to get help from Anna, her boyfriend began to turn around, and had not even uttered "Anna, you might" before Elsa dragged him close to her and waved her arms around them. A cocoon of ice materialized from thin air, then began to thicken externally. What seemed like a lifetime later for Kristoff, but was in reality a mere few seconds, passed before a large CRACK could be heard through the ice walls and an explosion ripped through the infirmary, crashing hard against the walls of the cocoon. Turning around, with Elsa's hand now no longer binding his arm, his eyes widened at the splinters in the ice which had appeared directly behind him. They ran the entire height of the safe haven the Queen had pulled him into, splitting off into smaller crevasses around the walls. He could only think one thing, which his mouth proceeded to relay in shock; "Anna..."

Elsa fell to the ground, the unnatural light which had possessed her gone, but Kristoff did not notice; nor did he notice the cocoon melt to his feet. For all he saw was his love thrown to the wall, her head slanted to the side and bleeding profusely. Overcoming his paralysis, he ran to her, ignoring the gigantic hole in the side of the infirmary facing out to the town, and most importantly, missing the new member of the conscious world, sitting up in her cot, nearly untouched by the blast.

Anna's twin stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes, slowly winking as if woken from a good night's sleep. Looking around, she observed the damaged room she was in and could only think to say one thing.

"Where am I?"

**Author's Note:**

I had to take a few liberties with the structure of Arendelle Castle, because my memory of the inside is not that grand. I also had to invent the location of the infirmary. I wrote this chapter a lot longer than the first two, simply to see how it would turn out. No guarantees I can keep writing this much into a chapter, but I shall endeavor to do so.

You may notice that "Anna's Twin", as I keep calling her, has been swapped into third person perspective in writing, and I aim to keep it this way. I wrote Chapter One/the Prologue in first person as I could find no better way to convey the deep "thought" process of someone in a comatose state.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Sky is Awake

**Chapter Four**

_The Sky is Awake_

The walls of the long room she was in were painted a delicate shade of light gray. Well, what was left of them, anyways. The scorch marks potshot across the solid wall sections, the black borders to empty space, the jigsaw-esque nature of the view from beyond the walls. They all pointed an injured, hurting finger toward a warzone. Something bad had happened here, yet what she could see of the town beyond the room was pristine, if a bit run down. However, it did look like a hurricane had blown through, with scattered roof tiles and various, ancient carriages strewn about the area. What seemed to be people moved about in an unorganized, random manner; as if ants beneath a magnifying glass and the power of the sun. A lack of anything fire-related, of course, marked the difference between her current surroundings and the town's respective misfortunes.

Her back ached like the dickens, shouts of dull pain running up and down the muscle fibers. Obviously what she was previously sleeping on had not been comfortable. The twin raised her arms above her head, locking her hands and moving her shoulder blades in quick succession, in order to massage her primary back muscles into cooperation. Groaning against the sudden, unexpected movement, they resisted any attempts at peace. Frustrated, she proceeded to rapidly turn her torso side to side, cracking the bones in her spine, hopefully realigning them, and forcing the uncooperative negotiators at her back's table to adjust to her command._ There. That feels much better. Time to take a closer look at my location_. She swung her feet off the table, realizing it to be an approximation of a hospital bed, and gingerly descended onto her bare feet.

The floor sent a deep chill up her spine, causing her to shriek in distress._ The floor is FREEZING!_ she internally exclaimed,_ Why is it so cold? It looks like hell appeared in this room, but the floor is this cold!?_ Pausing to adjust herself to the temperature after each step, she walked over to the edge of the room facing the town. Delicately testing the beaten walls to make sure no embers in them could hurt her, she placed her hand upon a charred edge, staring off into the distance._ I need to figure out where I am._ Looking to the left showed her a beautiful river, snaking out of the town into an ocean; to the right there sat a bridge, leading from the town to a the gate, she assumed, given said gate was in the middle of an extremely tall wall. Her eyes followed the wall further on, where it disappeared behind the structure she now resided in. Returning her gaze to the left side of the gate, she followed that wall to the place it attached to the main structure. The one she was standing on the edge of. Looking down gave her an excellent view of the high drop between herself and the ground. Letting out another shriek, she jumped back and bade her heart to slow down from it's hummingbird beat._ Right. Do not go to the edge of something before looking down first,_ she chided herself,_ I'm not usually this absent-minded. Why did I not check that sooner?_

Resolving to figure that out another time, possibly one when she wasn't in the middle of a burnt room, she turned around on her small feet. Directly opposite her at the other wall, this one somehow not having several gaping holes like the one she presided beside currently had, lay an unconscious girl, head bleeding out at a rapid pace, with blood dripping down her face into her pretty hands. She could not have been more than 19, at the most. Attending her, but at a loss for how to treat the wound, a rather large and muscular man knelt, crying his eyes out and trying to stem the flow of blood with what looked like his torn sleeve. He kept saying in a hushed, but panicked voice, "Come on, wake up! Don't die on me, not today!"_ Kristoff,_ she thought, surprised at the fact that she recognized this man and knew his name, considering she'd never seen him before. A sudden pang of sadness hit her, causing her to keel over to the ground. Panting, she willed her emotions to recede, not understanding in the least why they'd surfaced in the first place.

She noticed flickering in the blurred mainstay of her vision; willing her eyes to focus, she stared down at her hands. Or more accurately, what the hell was currently occurring around them. Sparks of fire danced around her fingertips, decaying into mere figments of smoke after a couple of seconds. The flames and smoke contained amazing patterns, spirals of red and orange and firework shows of blue and green, accompanied by dances of white and gray. What was most interesting, however, was that there was no visible means of ignition. The flames seemed to dart in and out of existence, created from nothing and receding to their original state. This befuddled the twin, as she racked her mind for a logical explanation._ Could there be gasoline on my hands? No. They'd be on fire themselves if they had even a small amount on them. Oil would yield a similar result. Thermite and I'd be dead._

_Alright, slightly more outlandish solutions then; some kind of holographic technology?_ She waved her hands around, looking for any distortions. Not only did none exist, but the flames seemed to hover in space as they would if they were real._ So either not holography, or something too advanced to discern._ The girl, puzzled by this, racked her mind for more possibilities. While none came to her, something did surface; a memory of fire, burning around her._ The blackened field._ Her entire body shuddered at the thought, repulsed by the dead, sickly look of the landscape. She vaguely recalled the flames which had flowed around her as she'd lain there, vulnerable and unmoving. The torrential heat radiating from their short distance to her body._ Those flames were odd_, she mused,_ as they seemed to respond to my emotional turmoil._ Curiosity overtook her inquisitive nature, something quite abnormal for her, and she willed her emotions to become neutral once more._ It can't hurt to test, can it?_ Her face cracked a sly grin, and she began to repeat a mantra._ Force it down, smooth it out,_ she repeated, and her eyes widened to the size of dinner saucers as the flames fizzled to nothing.

_Okay. So, wherever I am, there are flames which respond to my emotions. Great._ The astonished twin resolved to put aside her discovery for a later time, one during which there was not a girl bleeding out in front of her. A sense of urgency overtook her, and she dashed around the room looking for something to aid her in the repair of the girl's head. Amazingly enough, she appeared to be in the remnants of some kind of infirmary; though the tools she could find that had not been destroyed were ancient. Not even a proper thermometer could be found, for she had only happened upon an old glass-and-mercury design. It would have to do, however. She found some mildly charred bandages, which were thankfully clean on one side due to having been wrapped up. A water flask, marked 'For cleaning blood only', and a clean rag were next. She located an antiseptic, which looked much like a bottle of brandy, labeled with the barely legible 'Alcohol 2%'._ This will have to do, though I'd much prefer Hydrogen Peroxide_, the girl resigned, grabbing a few balls of cotton, a needle and surgical thread. She'd prefer to leave those last two untouched, but if it came to it, she was prepared. The various bone saws and gruesome looking knives she left untouched.

Barely hanging on to the items in her arms, she waddled over to the girl and Kristoff. When she gently dropped the load on the ground beside the girl, he traveled 2 or so meters into the air and abruptly came back down with a harsh bang. Obviously he had not been expecting her, nor had he been paying attention to anything but the girl. His head swiveled to look up at her. His face proceeded to go through a range of emotions, beginning in the shock he was already in, middling in confusion, and ending in a darkened, haunted look, his gaze becoming hard._ Uh oh, what did I do?_ The twin asked herself, not sure she wanted the answer given his expression. She decided to cut him off before he could get properly angry, arranging her shoulders nearly automatically into a commanding pose. "I don't know what I did to make you angry with me, but this girl is bleeding out. She'll die without proper medical treatment. I can provide that, at least until a real doctor gets here, so save it until then." What surprised her was how much command she'd conveyed in her tone of voice, the loyalty she seemed to require.She bit her lip, hoping Kristoff would accept the compromise, and let out a held breath when he slightly backed away from the girl, holding one hand up in a position of surrender. His other hand remained securely behind the unconscious girl, however._ He's keen on protecting her_, the impromptu doctor observed,_ that's fine. I can work with him protecting her anyways._

She knelt down to the ground, and leaned in to inspect the head wound. What she could see beneath the thick, strawberry blonde hair, was a not-serious gash across most of the upper left side of her scalp._ The blood must be from the wide nature of the cut, and not the depth of it,_ she reasoned, and unscrewed the cap of her water flask. After pouring the cleansing liquid over every inch of the girl's head, ending in a drenched, wet-dog look, she wiped away the crusted blood with a rag. During nearly every action she took, Kristoff would flinch, trying to reach toward her to stop her from proceeding, before remembering their deal and halting his motion. His scowl remained ingrained on his fair face, however._ Hopefully my treatment of this girl will win my some points with him,_ the twin mused, while brushing the hair away from the girl's face. She was very attractive, in a cute sort of way. Unfortunately, every time they touched, sparks flew from the twin's fingers, which she made every effort to hide from Kristoff. He'd likely not let her help if he knew fire was something she had an issue with, to say the least.

"Hold this", she barked at him, tossing the bottle of antiseptic into his free hand. Her throw was expert, his catch not so much. He fumbled with the bottle but finally managed to catch it, holding tightly so he'd not drop it. "When I take this cotton ball to her wound, I want you to very gently drop small amounts of it on the area the ball is at. This will disinfect her wound, hopefully." she told him, pausing to wait until he nodded. He unscrewed the cap with his second hand, tenderly removing it from the girl's back, and positioned the bottle above her head; the twin placed a cotton ball on her wound. Kristoff obliged, dropping only small amounts into the wound. She started lightly scrubbing the wound, causing bubbles to form around the edges._ Thank existence she's asleep right now, or the pain from this would make her pass out at the worst, or break my eardrums at the least,_ the girl affirmed. The flames sprung once again from her fingertips, and she rapidly dragged her hand away to avoid lighting the alcohol and actually burning the cut. Kristoff noticed her withdraw, and tipped his bottle up to stem the flow into the wound._ Guess he didn't see the flames,_ she assured herself,_ or for some reason he doesn't care_.

After a few minutes, the conscripted doctor took the rag to the girl's head again, wiping away as much of the remaining alcohol as possible. She examined the wound, noticing that it seemed much less serious than it had with the blood covering her head. "What's her name?" she asked Kristoff, wishing to try a little bedside manner for the guy who looked as if he was about to throw up.

"Anna", he replied, "Her name's Anna." The scowl on his face lessened and his shaking figure seemed to cease vibrating.

"Anna... that's a nice name." She muttered, once again moving the majority of her attention back to the wound. As her nimble hands unrolled a bandage, she decided to face the elephant in the room, or rather the elephant which had destroyed the room. "What happened here? The room looks like it got hit with a bomb."

At this, his scowl returned, and Kristoff looked her dead in the eyes. "An explosion, I think. Anna was approaching you to talk to you in your coma. Whatever she did must have worked, because you're awake. I was pulled into an ice cocoon by our esteemed Snow Queen over there," he pointed to a young woman, much more well developed in figure, laying on the floor as if dropped there, "so I didn't see what caused the explosion. I'm not sure how Anna survived, honestly." His eyes dropped to the floor and he put his head in his hands, beginning to weep once more at this. "I'm glad she did, though. I love her so much."

_Ah, a lover. That's why he's so protective,_ the girl thought, completely missing the part about the ice cocoon, looking at Kristoff with an apologetic look. "Sounds like quite the experience," she said, trying to sound supportive, "Not that I was there to witness it. As you said, I was comatose." He nodded, still weeping, but looking up now to observe her care of Anna once more._ Probably to make sure I don't kill her,_ she thought glumly.

Reaching out to bandage up the wound, she noticed something odd. Said wound, having previously been a cut across a huge swath of Anna's head, was sealed up to maybe half it's length now. Stumped, the girl's hands dropped to her lap, a look of dazed confusion on her face. Kristoff seemed to pick up on this, asking "What's wrong?"

Turning her head to him, but keeping her eyes focused on the cut, she replied "I could have sworn the cut was bigger than that. In fact, I'm sure of it."

She pointed to the cut's location, his eyes following her outstretched finger. A rather large, wheezy gasp left his throat as his eyes slightly bugged out in amazement. Kristoff scrambled to the Anna's side, nearly tearing her hair off to get a better look at the wound. He'd only been a meter or so away, of course, but his breath still came out in bursts.

"Stop that, you'll open it up further!" the twin yelled, grabbing at his arms in a failed attempt to calm him. They flailed like that until her strength prevailed, forcing his arms down to the floor as she locked eyes with him._ Apparently I'm stronger than a man in this body_, thought the girl, surprised at her relative ease in subduing Kristoff,_ Or he's just really weak. Unlikely._

His cheeks went bright red when her eyes met the light brown, nearly hazel orbs of the ice harvester; she worried he might have a fever. Placing her hand upon his brow only made his condition worse. She wasn't quite sure why he was acting this way, but proceeded to lift her other hand from his arm, cautioning "I will punch you off the ledge if you go crazy like that again, thank you very much!" Kristoff slowly held his hands up in defeat, fearing her wrath if he moved too quickly. She turned back to Anna, with concern written on her face._ I can't keep getting distracted, or she may not get treated in time,_ the twin mused, vaguely recalling the many types of bacteria which could infect human wounds, which were especially bad in the region above the shoulders. She let out a grunt and stretched the bandage between her hands, ready to wrap it around the patient's head. Only to be stopped in her tracks by an immaculate scalp.

"What the?" she exclaimed rather loudly, moving rapidly around Anna to get a good look at her head. "Where is it? It was just there!" Nothing was left where the wound had been besides completely healthy skin. Blood and antiseptic covered skin, true, but no wound was present.

"Where's what?" the large man asked, but got no reply.

The girl slumped her shoulders low, sitting back on her knees and simply stated "That's not possible." He followed her gaze yet again to Anna's head and saw what she'd seen. She looked at Kristoff, whose face now painted a similar picture to her own, and asked "You saw the wound, right!? I'm not crazy?" He nodded, apparently too flabbergasted to speak. "How does a wound disappear?" she asked herself out loud, leading him to provide his approximation of an answer.

"Magic?" the large man suggested, appearing to not quite believing it himself given his smirk.

The now jobless temporary doctor looked at him with incredulity, replying simply "Magic doesn't exist, Kristoff." Her hand flew to her mouth, and her mistake was realized; she'd said his name without him telling her it._ Damn it! I was so careful!_ She scolded herself, awaiting his response, whatever that might be. She didn't imagine it'd be pleasant though.

To her surprise, he didn't react in the slightest, besides saying something which lent the idea that his mental screws might not all be in place. "Yes it does. I've seen it. The entirety of Arendelle has seen it." He screwed his face up in thought. "Wait, how do you not know? The queen," he pointed to the woman on the ground again, "froze the entire country over with her ice magic. It's not something you could have missed!"

She looked at him with the wary look of a person who'd gotten too close to someone mentally insane, as she believed him to be now, and began scooting slowly backwards, towards relative safety if he were to have an episode. "Sure thing, Kristoff. That sounds..." she'd nearly reached the queen at this point, "really interesting. Why don't you tell me more about it while I treat Her Majesty here?" Somehow not noticing her retreat from his side, he complied and began to weave quite a tale.

She only caught bits and pieces of it due to focusing more on the 'Queen', or so Kristoff believed, moving her observant eyes up and down her frame. There was something not wholly human about this woman; her skin was far too fair to be an actual skin color, and her hair was an extremely light blonde. What really confused the girl, however, was the dress she was wearing. It sparkled in the dim light, and seemed to radiate it's own glow into the air around it. It also radiated something else. Power. The twin could not think of anything else to call the feeling she received from it. It simply_ told_ her it was a product of raw power, the feeling you'd get if you were in the presence of a ship or one of the heroes she'd seen in the news. She brushed off the feeling, focusing once more on the woman's health, which seemed fine to her. In fact, she appeared to be in deep sleep, her mouth sometimes lending itself to a smile, tender and loving, and at other times a deep frown, as her face would get a look of abject terror.

As one such nightmare impacted the queen, she had to grab her sides and rub them rapidly, as the air temperature seemed to drop like a stone. She sat on the floor shivering for a while before Kristoff came over and put a blanket across her shoulders. "Thanks, Kristoff," she said, smiling at him._ Why is it so cold? Walls. Burnt walls. If anything this room should be hot!_ The twin was so wrapped up in her musings she failed to notice the frost slowly creeping up her knees and across the floor from the queen's slumbering form. The swirls of magic crept up her dress-covered legs, forming amazing patterns of ice in the fabric. Only when the ice met her undergarments did she take heed; for she leapt up with a shriek and began flailing about, bashing the ice on her clothes with heavy strokes of her petite hands. Bit by bit, the frost fell off her to the floor, where it proceeded to rapidly melt away. But it was not the rapidly receding ice which caught her attention._ The Queen... there's ice around her! In a circle! Spreading from her! It might freeze her to death!_ The girl ran to the woman, grabbing her shoulders roughly and dragging her away from the growing frost.

This plan proved to be an utter failure, however, as the queen was in fact the source of the ice, despite the girl not knowing this. No matter where she dragged her, the frost followed, unrelentingly, and it didn't help that Her Majesty was not a light woman. Kristoff merely stood to the side, quite amused at something, but she could not figure out what. Somehow, the dragged woman was still asleep, her face twisted into the worst pain imaginable._ Must be quite a nightmare,_ the girl thought, as she began panting heavily, having worn out her body by the futile exercise of running from ice which tracked people. Finally, she collapsed to the ground, the queen falling on top of her. She shifted in her sleep, grabbing onto the girl's bosom and using it as a pillow. The twin was not comfortable with this, and tried to shove her off; all this did was begin the spread of ice across her clothes once more. Exasperated, she threw her intense annoyance at the ice, telling it to just_ BURN_. To her surprise, the ice proceeded to_ catch fire and melt_. Her eyes returned to their shocked, saucer-plate size at this, looking back and forth between Kristoff, who shared her expression, to her dress, where the ice had previously resided. "What?" she kept asking, for that was all she could say; the large man merely kept blinking. She took a large breath to ask something concrete, but realized the queen was no longer on her stomach. Instead, she was standing up, rapidly backing away from the girl with fear in her eyes and a growl upon her throat, her hand outstretched as if she were catching a tennis ball.

Kristoff yelled "Elsa, don't!", drawing a puzzled look from the twin, before a beam of blue gathered at the queen's hand and shot toward her, ice cracking the air around it and whispers of death upon it's wake. She could do nothing but cross her arms in defense before it hit her with a resounding snap. She waited several seconds for ice to encase her, as she imagined it would, before realizing nothing of the sort had taken place. Bracing for anything, she peeked open one eye, and then rapidly shot open the other in surprise. In between her arms and the endpoint of the beam there stood something resolute, conjured from nothingness; a shield of pure fire, melting ice as fast as it could materialize. The protective flames stretched around her in a half-sphere, concentrated most at the point of contact with Elsa's ice. The sound of the two elements battling each other for supremacy resembled that of an out of control furnace being drenched in water. Bright flashes of light danced around the contact point, flying off into alternating embers and ice flurries. The stalemate continued on, neither magic user gaining the upper hand. The ice would make headway, then the fire would flare and reverse it, pushing the beam backwards, before balance was once again restored. That changed when Elsa heard the one voice which could return her from the brink of her destructive tendencies.

"Kristoff, what's going on?" Anna asked, grabbing onto his arm to hold herself up, knees wobbling and her face looking like it had been hit by a barge.

Elsa turned to her and gasped, the face of evil evaporating as fast as her ice in front of the fire shield. "Thank god you're alright, Anna!", she yelled, running to embrace her sister. The ice beam drilling the twin's shield of flames immediately subsided, fizzling out as if it had never existed, and she fell on her back to the ground, exhausted from the ordeal. Elsa fawned over Anna, examining the blood in her hair, seeing the area where the source of the blood should have been and twisting her face up in confusion at the lack of any wound. The burns and scrapes on her face angered the queen again, riling her up to go after Anna's twin, the person who'd done this to her. Elsa had no idea what had actually transpired, of course, but this was not the first time she acted without thinking. Readying her hands for another assault on the weakened girl, she was suddenly stopped by a simple "No" from Kristoff. "She kept Anna alive, Elsa. Don't kill her." The queen whirled to face him, amazement apparent on her fair face. The look of honesty and hope in his eyes dissuaded her from doing anything more to the twin, so she calmed her emotions to prevent any unsanctioned magical outburst and approached Anna's other side. She grabbed hold of her arm, then helped Kristoff hobble Anna to the infirmary door.

The trio were about to exit when a yell for help, interspersed with intense coughing, brought them back to reality. The twin sat up on the floor, barely recovered from her battle with the queen. "Anyone want to explain to me what just happened? And maybe get me to a hospital bed? My head is swimming something fierce."

**Author's Footnote:**

I was advised by a friend of mine to split dialogue up into multiple lines. I have done so in this chapter. As for why this chapter seems to be... slower than my previous three, it's because I'm trying to shove more detail into my writing.

I screwed up in Chapter Three, incorrectly writing that Elsa's hair is white. It is in fact a very light blonde.


	5. Chapter 5 - A Dual Dilemma

**Chapter Five**

_A Dual Dilemma_

Elsa sat with her back to the wall, right hand cradling the shoulders of her sister as the princess rested on her bed. Poor Anna had bruises everywhere, it seemed, for her aches and pains would not depart for other pastures. She let out groans of discomfort from time to time, attempting to shuffle her body into a position which would alleviate her grievances. _I have to keep her still, lest she cause herself even more injury._ Elsa sighed to nobody in particular, and chided "Anna, why must you get into so much trouble?" Shaking her head and momentarily allowing her ice to flow to her hand, which had proved to be an effective way to keep the rambunctious princess from moving too much over the past hours, she muttered "You have got to take better care of yourself."

Anna slowly turned her head so that her eyes bored into the cerulean orbs, noticing the fear which still resided within those deep wells. "It's not like I asked to be blown across the room, now is it?" she scoffed, groaning due to the wave of pain this caused across her body. "Can't say I enjoy the outcome though." Another cough. "Why do bruises hurt so much!?" she asked, seemingly tired of it all. Anna tried to pull herself up to a sitting position, leaning back on the bed's large oak headboard. She only succeeded in falling sideways into Elsa's lap, her view of the world giving her a sick stomach. "Elsa, a little help please!"

Elsa gently pushed her sister's head off her lap, forcing her once more into her prescribed position. "Anna, you need to lay down and rest. You've been through a lot," she stated through gritted teeth, shooting a glare towards the resident of the other bed in Anna's room. The daggers between them nearly took physical form before the queen noticed the coalescing ice, dismissing it with a very delayed wave of her free hand. Anna's twin shrunk into the covers upon her gaze, letting out a slight whimper and cracking a weak, apologetic smile. _The only reason you are alive right now is because Anna wishes it,_ the Snow Queen thought, not daring to speak her opinion out loud for her sister's sake.

Her powerful granite expression could not fool the princess, who nudged Elsa in the hip and gently reminded her "No icing me or people who look like me, remember?"

The queen muttered her agreement, and turned her glower away from it's previous target. It now settled on Adrian, the previous caretaker of her kingdom, who sat next to the twin accompanied by a large tray of assorted medical and scientific instruments. Elsa had never been interested in the sciences, sticking closer to her love of geometric shapes and using her ice to craft them. Despite her limited knowledge, she spied a couple of thermometers, a temperature gauge, a few differing sizes of stethoscopes, and a very large jug of water. _He'll probably ask me to cool that down soon, if I remember his attempted experiments with me correctly,_ the queen thought with a groan. She spotted a few other, very odd items in the mix; not the least of which were a pair of gauntlets from the armor stands downstairs. _He probably thinks those will contain her fire. Hmmph_, Elsa scoffed, _if my abilities are anything to go by, there's no substance on Earth which can block them._

Sure enough, Adrian called to her without even looking up. "Elsa, would you please bring this water down to near snow temperature?" She lamented at the lack of formality in his words, but such was a common theme with the scientist. He'd never addressed her or anyone else using their titles, which had been a massive annoyance to visiting royals over his time at the court. He was such an important asset, however, that Elsa's father had seen fit to keep him around. She'd seen no reason to change that, and continually went to him for advice on running her newly acquired kingdom.

"Elsa, soon please?"

She snapped out of her stupor, apologizing profusely and sending a blast of ice into the jug. Not enough to flash freeze the contents, but enough to bring the water's temperature down near that of snow. Elsa had never needed a specific number or explicit instructions to control her abilities; it was a simple matter of what she pictured in her mind translating directly into reality, so 'Only a bit warmer than snow' functioned perfectly. Anna began moving again, forcing the queen to make her shoulders cold. Elsa was honestly getting very tired of this continual cycle of boredom, despite being totally committed to helping her sister heal. She traced patterns of ice in the air with her other hand, causing triangles of white to combine into hexagons of blue, shattering and recomposing into squares and circles.

Anna moving a few more times finally broke her patience, and she rapidly jumped up off the bed. Stretching her arms out to wake up her sleeping muscles, she yawned wide enough to swallow the ocean. It was nearly four in the morning, judging by the grandfather clock on the wall, and Elsa had no respectable amount of sleep the previous night. She'd only been out for an hour or so between the tornado's appearance causing her subsequent lack of consciousness and the magic fight that'd taken place in the infirmary. She was properly tired, and her drooping shoulders, wavering step and sloppy eyelids proved it. "I'm sorry Anna, I have to…" the tired queen yawned again, "I have to sleep. Will you be okay with _her_ over there?" Another glance towards the twin, who was too busy being pelted with Adrian's questions to notice.

"I'll be fine, Elsa. You need sleep more than I do, and Kristoff is here to protect me if anything goes wrong!" Anna replied, as cheerfully as she could. Despite her condition, the peppiness she displayed never left her. Her boyfriend waved to Elsa with a smile on his face, using his other hand to give her a thumbs up.

Her fears only mitigated a little, and only because Adrian was there, the queen bade them goodnight and walked out of Anna's door. She turned right and began walking to her bedroom, yawning nearly every step of the way. Her eyes threatened to close on her, her view growing hazy from time to time before she snapped them back open, yelling "I'M AWAKE!" and not moving for a second or two. When she finally made it the 50 meters or so to her door, which had felt like 3 kilometers, she grasped at the door handle, missing it several times until her hand finally caught the brass knob. Turning it weakly, she walked into her room and immediately collapsed onto her bed. Elsa sent a light gust of arctic wind toward her door, causing it to close on it's own.

Ever since the Ice Palace, Elsa had never worn a normal dress again. Instead, she conjured up ice dress after ice dress, and her sleep attire was no different. With barely enough concentration to stay awake, she willed the ice upon her frame to reconfigure into a nightgown fit for a queen. What she got was a barely solidified mass of ice cloth, but it was enough to cover her modesty. Satisfied, the Snow Queen drifted off into a dreamless sleep, the first one she'd had her entire life.

* * *

Had Elsa looked back even once before stumbling out of Anna's room, she would have witnessed the heads of all those present staring down her retreating form, tracking her position with an unearthly, coordinated manner. They waited, attention unending, until she'd rounded the door's edge. An air of silence prevailed, ears straining to hear the light thump of her dainty feet on their way to the queen's room. Most of the company flinched, but Anna nearly fell out of bed every time a yell of "I'M AWAKE!" sounded through the halls. Their nerves would only calm soon enough to be frayed once more by another yell. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of silence, the door to their quarry's room creaked open, silent for mere seconds, before slamming closed with the force of a storm.

Convinced it was finally safe to spare the Snow Queen any discomfort, Adrian turned back to Anna's twin. "Alright, spill." he said with determination, a scowl on his normally cheery mug. She looked at him with puzzlement on hers, a singular eyebrow raised to it's maximum and a smirk upon her lips. _I guess clarification is in order,_ the scientist decided, straightening his back and clearing his throat. "Obviously I must clarify. I have a few questions, but the first one is obvious. Why do you look identical to Anna?"

"I what?" the twin asked him, rubbing her face to ensure she'd heard his words with accuracy.

Adrian chuckled. "You heard me correctly. Why are you Anna's spitting image?"

She stared at him dumbfounded, expression that of a lead frying pan. He nodded his head slightly, momentarily closing his eyes to prove his point. Her head swiveled to Kristoff and Anna, hoping for a second opinion not as insane as the doctor's supposedly educated diagnosis. All she got in return was another nod and a "Yes" delivered through sputtered coughs.

"You're insane, the lot of you." the twin responded with a look of utter disdain at the three. "People do not look like others except in extremely rare circumstances. The chances are… astronomical at best." She sat back against the headboard, crossing her arms and drumming her fingers along her elbows. "Well, except identical twins, of course."

Adrian shook his head. "Anna and Elsa's parents birthed two children, no more, no less. I was present at both their births," he said, coaxing an embarrassed glare from Anna, "and I would remember if Anna had a twin. Even if she did, your hair color is a few shades different from hers."

"Yeah, of course. My hair's brown, no shit it's different…" the twin trailed off, recent memories surfacing to point out her statement's lack of accuracy. She grabbed a braid of her hair, moving it up to her eye level for confirmation one way or another. She gasped a loud, breathy rasp when her eyes met crimson. She was certain this could not occur in nature. "Oh…" she said, her shoulders slumping and a crestfallen air about her.

"This is off topic by a slight margin, though. We should get back to the point at hand." Adrian stood up and walked over to the dressing table next to Anna's bed, making sure to steer clear of her injuries. He rummaged among the items on the tabletop, muttering something about the princess's organization skills.

While he looked, Anna glanced at her twin with a bemused smile and mischief in her light blue eyes. Noticing her glance, a snappy voice sounded "What?" The princess's lip curled up in a smirk, for what she was about to say had been said to Elsa many times before. "Do the magic!" she gleefully responded, eyes wide in anticipation. The twin raised her eyebrow to it's signature confused location, and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Magic?" At a nod from the princess, she continued. "Sorry to break it to you, but magic isn't real."

Anna merely looked at her sideways, a deadpan expression on her face. "You created a shield of fire to defend against Elsa's ice magic, and you think it's not real?"

"Oh, you mean this?" the twin asked, opening the curled fingers of her right hand. She brought it up to eye level, safely away from the bedsheets, and tilted the palm skyward. _Focus,_ she told herself, willing her thoughts to translate to reality. A spark of light came into existence, hovering above her extended fingers, undulating and spitting out wisps of smoke. _Not big enough._ It took only a moment of concentration, but the flame responded; it near instantly grew to the size of an apple, a veritable ball of fire. After making sure it stopped growing, the twin tossed it to her other hand, catching it much like a child's ball. She summoned two more, beginning to juggle them above her head. In reality, her skin never made contact with the flames. They were merely following the path her mind laid out, and could not escape from their courses any more than planets from a star. The tails of these waterless comets created a ring above her head, the swirls of smoke plainly visible and very distinctive.

Anna nodded her agreement, eyes wide in wonder. "Yes, that." Kristoff mirrored her expression, but he was speechless and his jaw had once more hit the floor.

The twin's eyes betrayed her amazement at her own abilities. She now had command of fire itself; no matter what mad science was behind the power within her, she was resigned to enjoy it to the fullest. Imperceptibly moving her hands, she directed the fireballs in waving dances of heat, drawing shapes and figures with their smoke trails. She noticed the odd swirls in the smoke, drawing the line between her previous experience in the infirmary and the patterns. _My fire causes those swirls_._ Normal smoke doesn't contain them, so it must be a marker of my ability_.

After a while, the twin shook her head, allowing the fireballs to go out of existence with a slight bang. Adrian jumped at the sudden noise and turned around, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary, went back to his rummaging. "That's not magic. A wise man once said 'Magic is only science yet understood.' Sure, my power is impressive, but it does not stem from mystical roots." Opening her eyes from the recital, she noticed Anna's discouraged look. She gave a meek smile. "Sorry to burst your bubble."

Anna merely scoffed. "Magic is real, and you're living proof. So is my sister." She turned her chin up defiantly and crossed her arms with a grunt of pain.

"She's the ice one, right?" The twin shook her head with a grin. "I'd love to hear THAT story sometime. Must be fun having someone who can make ice appear out of nowhere as a sister."

The princess's face near instantly fell to an unhappy gloom. "What did I say?" the offender asked, looking to Kristoff for an answer, as Adrian appeared to be busy.

The large man looked to Anna for approval. A silent conversation took place, arguments passed in the way of eyebrow twitching and subtle mouth movements. The twin was bewildered, trying to peer into the unspoken clamor, but to no avail. The princess finally nodded her approval, and clearing his throat, Kristoff began to speak.

He wove a tale of despair, of burnt bridges, and of love dragged back from the depths of death itself. A tale of happy children, accidents, and closed doors. Isolated princesses, from the world and from each other. The deaths of a queen and king. An ice castle, a coronation gone bad, and a winter everlasting in the middle of summer. Of manipulators and henchmen, danger and powerful magic. Anna tended to leap in to offer her view of the story when Kristoff was at a loss to occurrences, apparently getting over her earlier despair. The twin listened intently, soaking in the information like a rag to the fjord outside.

Upon the explanation of who Hans was and what he'd done to Anna, the room's temperature raised by about a dozen degrees, prompting Kristoff to sprint to the window and shove it open, letting in the cool autumn air. The twin apologized immensely when this was brought to her attention, but could not tone down her anger at the betrayer prince. _I swear, if I ever meet that bastard, I will roast him alive_, she promised herself, _literally._ A slightly twisted smile appeared on her face when she lit a small fire in the air above her hand, relishing as she imagined cooking a smug grin off that sideburn-toting face.

As the story drew to a close, the heartwarming tale of a sister rescued from the jaws of an icy death by the love she felt for a queen seemed to soothe the wrath of the fire wielder, allowing the room's heat to dissipate. Yet something didn't quite add up.

"Let's get this straight; Anna was turned to solid ice, and she came back?"

Both Kristoff and the princess nodded.

"Via the power of sisterly 'true love'?"

"Yup!" Anna replied, smiling broadly.

The twin simply looked at her like she was an idiot. "I don't care how powerful 'true love' is. It doesn't violate the laws of physics!" Summoning a flame in her palm, she looked from it to the other bed, face contorted as if struggling to put a sentence together. When she finally had it, she looked directly at Anna's eyes and asked, "Are you sure you can't control fire, too?"

Of all the things the princess was expecting her to say, that was not on the list. "What?" she asked, her turn to be dumbfounded. "Of course not, don't be silly. I don't have magic." She scoffed at the ridiculous notion.

Adrian paused his rummaging to slide in a snide remark. "Trust me, if Anna had magic, the kingdom would be a crater by now. Especially if it was fire magic." He winced as the shoe she threw at him left a red mark on his cheek. "Hey, I'm trying to find something here!"

The princess extended her hand to his arm, obviously not too insulted by his previous remark. "What are you looking for?" she asked.

His eyes scanned across the flotsam. Just before he could reply to Anna, they landed on what he sought; a hand mirror. "Found it!" he said with excitement. _While small, the twin should be able to see herself well enough to think I'm not mentally insane. _He grabbed the mirror and paced back to the side of the twin's bed.

"Took you long enough, huh?" she gloated, a huge smirk on her petite lips and playful daring in her eyes. He'd seen that look many times on Anna's face, and it had irritated him to no end during his time in Arendelle.

_Don't let yourself get riled up, lest you anger her in return. This girl could melt the castle if she lost control,_ Adrian reminded himself. With a smile that matched hers, he merely held out the item, daring her to take it. The twin cautiously moved her hand to his, snatching the mirror from it as soon as she got in range. She cuddled it away from him, slowly opening the lid while her eyes did a rapid dance between his frame and the reflective glass on the inside of the lid. Anna giggled tremendously at her antics.

The twin eventually let her eyes stay on the slowly raising viewpoint offered by the small hand mirror, which was oddly enough just the right size for her open palm. Her fingers gingerly opened the lid to full, and she let out a shriek of surprise. For she had just discovered what everyone else had already witnessed; Anna's face looking right back. Her mouth agape, she looked to the other bed. Sure enough, the appearances were identical. The small but full lips, the long petite nose, and the look of absolute happiness in her eyes were present on both facades. Not quite believing it still, she turned the mirror towards Adrian. _It must be advanced image modification. If he ends up looking like Anna as well, I'll know_.

Unfortunately for her theory, however, he looked just like he looked from her eyes; tall, strong, and with a grin on his face screaming victory. His smug look and the teasing playfulness of his aged eyes got the better of her. She tossed the hand mirror at his chest, laughing in reply. Not hard enough to injure him, but fast enough to knock the wind out of his beaming face. Oddly, her elemental control proved to slacken, as instead of a mere hand mirror hitting his chest, a ball of fire slammed him several meters backwards.

"Oh shit, are you okay?" she asked, jumping up from her bed and running over to Adrian. She barely noticed Anna and Kristoff with gaping holes where their mouths should have been, eyes wide in shock, and tracking her as she bounced across the room. The twin bent down and grabbed his arm, hauling him to his feet. She looked at his chest with an extremely apologetic expression and moved him over to the bed she so obviously no longer needed. "I don't have much control over accidents yet. Sorry." she remarked, her eyes pleading for forgiveness. In the process of smoothing out his shirt, she noticed something else; it was aflame.

"Damn! damn!" the twin cursed, looking around the room for what she knew was there. She grabbed the jug of cool water and dumped it on the flames, dousing their orange light and utterly soaking Adrian to his core. He shuddered at the sudden difference in temperature, glaring at her with an expression of malice. "Sorry! Again!" she said, giggling a bit at his misfortune. _No, stop that. Setting people on fire is not funny!_ she chided herself. "Let's see if I can't warm you up, hmmm?"

"No, no! I'm just fine, thank you!" he rushed out, backing away from her outstretched hand with a wary look on his face. He huddled at the headboard, studying her now crossed arms and tapping foot as she thought of what to do. She paced back and forth in front of the bed for a good few seconds before she snapped her fingers, a light bulb of fire appearing above her head.

"That's fine, I can do it from here," she declared, and closing her eyes, she held her hands out towards him. _Concentrate. Concentrate. Don't let the fire come from your hands; heat the water molecules in his shirt instead. _In her mind's eye, the twin located every drop of water in the doctor's lab coat and slacks. At every turn, she made a mental bookmark to the location, and moved on to the next. Confident she'd located most of the water, she willed her power into the universe. A slight hissing noise started to sound, rising higher in pitch and louder in volume, until a billowing cloud of steam arose from Adrian's clothes. The cloud had her trademark swirls inside of it, dancing around the ceiling of the extremely tall room. The twin calmly breathed, the steam seeming to rise faster as she exhaled. Eventually his clothes were dry, and the steam cloud dissipated.

Both Kristoff and Anna were amazed at the show, simply muttering "Wow…" in unison. The previously wet doctor was a bit more composed, however.

"You have amazing levels of control, dear." he chuckled, "Well, when you actually focus on what you are doing. Otherwise mirrors melt to balls of fire" He looked over to Anna. "Something you two seem to share in common it seems, minus the fireballs."

The princess blushed at the statement, recalling the memories of when she had not been focused on what she was doing. "Yeah, that's us, I guess. Heh. What do you think…" she struggled with her words, realizing nobody knew the twin's name, "my.. uh.. fire magic double?"

She did not hear the words, however. As her mind descended into the now dark realm of her closed eyelids, something bright appeared directly in front of her. _I thought I had my eyes closed._ She opened them, and the bright object disappeared; closing them again, the object was once more present. _That's odd_. The twin tried to make out more details of the object, then let out a gasp when she finally did. It was Adrian's heart. It pulsed with a steady beat, slightly increasing in luminance with each pump.

The rest of the room's inhabitants had witnessed her strange behaviour, wondering what she was doing, what with the blinking and the gasping. Anna was still waiting on a response to her semi-question, and Adrian decided to keep his mouth shut, lest he interrupt the concentration of the pyrokinetic in front of him. The princess grew impatient as the girl continued to do the blinking, so she finally spoke up.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Apparently hearing her this time, and with her eyes still shut, the twin turned to Anna as if to utter a reply; but as her eyelids met Anna's form, the girl recoiled, as if struck by a lightning bolt. Her eyes snapped open at a rate seemingly inhuman, and she stared at the princess. Or more accurately, at her chest.

"Your heart. I was…" she struggled for breath, holding her hand up in front of her eyes as if to shield from the sun. "I was looking directly at your heart. I could see Adrian's when I shut my eyes, so I thought to see if I could see yours too..." The twin began to lower her hand, but shot it back up once more. "All I see is a brightness to rival the sun."

Anna felt her face go red with embarrassment. She was known for having an extremely big heart, for she cared about everyone, no matter who they were. It's why Hans had managed to manipulate her. _Well, I was also isolated for 13 years. That didn't help._ It was the reason Arendelle's subjects adored the princess. _Pretty much, no matter who they are, I can make people feel happy,_ she thought, bringing a beaming grin across her face.

The twin turned her eyes to Anna's face, letting out a caught breath when she could see again. "So, important note to self: do not look at Anna's chest." Kristoff seemed to choke when she said this, prompting her to cross her arms and let out an offended "Pfft."

**Author's Footnote:**

Apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I usually upload with a buffer system, but I made a gigantic shift in the story's path, so I had to scrap my buffer. Also, College.


	6. Chapter 6 - Exploratory Times

**Chapter Six**

_Exploratory Times_

Anna's twin paced across the princess' bedroom, leaving small wisps of smoke in her wake. It was obvious she was troubled about something. Despite their best attempts at understanding, Kristoff and Anna could not figure out what. Adrian, however, knew the look on her face all too well, for he'd seen it in the mirror many mornings. He was still wary of her errant pyrokinesis, and worried of what might happen should she fall into despair or grief due to her internal struggle. They'd all seen what happened when Elsa had lost control that summer, and Adrian was not disposed to letting the middle of winter become akin to the surface of the Sun. He had to distract her somehow.

"Well, now that your little stunts with fire are over," he began, hastily adding "at least for a little while, we must face the biggest issue at hand." He shifted his position for better comfort, the bruise on his chest beginning to swell and smart. Upon seeing the twin's worried grimace, he stopped moving and continued. "That issue being your name. We can't very well keep calling you 'You', now can we?" with a reassuring smile.

"Oh! I forgot! I'm so sorry! Between blowing up the infirmary," she frowned, and glancing to Adrian with yet another apology, "taking care of Anna's head wound," and muttering something like "which decided to disappear on me," then raising her voice to normal again, "and everything that's happened since, I never thought to introduce myself."

Clearing her throat, jutting out her chest, and throwing her shoulders back as if she was about to announce royalty, she let out a proud "My name is…" Her voice trailed off, her brow furrowing in concentration. Blinking, she shook it off and tried again. "That is to say, people call me…" Her mouth was open, tongue in the position to emit speech, but no words flowed out. The twin stood, dumbstruck for a time, then put two fingers to the bridge of her nose, rubbing as if to massage a migraine. None of the other room's occupants said anything, waiting on baited breath. Finally, the once proudly held shoulders slumped, and the light died from her eyes. The girl stood there, crestfallen, and barely squeaked out "I don't know who I am." Hearing it from her own mouth seemed to force reality to sink in. She slumped to the ground, her knees pulled to her chest.

After several minutes of silence, Adrian began to worry for the twin's mental health. His feeling was only exaggerated when the room's temperature started to rise once more, quite rapidly. _She's going to light up the castle,_ he thought with alarm, _possibly the entire town_. He jumped up from the bed, face twisting in agony when his chest flexed, but continued on his quest. Adrian wobbled to his discarded medical table, picking up a pair of metal gauntlets from among the various tools. They were simplistic in nature, not meant for anything but appearances, despite having been repaired a generous amount of times. _Anna could never keep from colliding with that poor armor_.

The task ahead of them was far beyond their original calling, for they would have to contain the spontaneous generation of immense heat. While fabric had served enough for Elsa to contain her magic, fire had no qualms about burning straight through such weak materials. It had to be controlled in an entirely different manner, one just as aggressive as the element itself. So it was with this in mind that Adrian walked over to the twin with a brisk pace and clamped the iron protectors around her hands.

Near instantly, the temperature of the princess' bedroom dropped like a stone. The girl barely took notice, but she did draw her knees closer to her chest. Beyond that, she simply sat there. Adrian sighed with relief, returning to the spare bed and slumping against the headboard. Anna was quick on her feet for someone with a dozen bruises and somehow managed to climb out of bed, movement returning to her limbs as if released from the grasp of sleep. She moved next to her twin, and knelt down on the floor, providing her an embrace that could only be described as tender. The twin felt her breath catch, although it may have merely been her lungs struggling for air; the hug left her very little room to move. She was grateful for the comfort however, so she said nothing; merely let the princess hold her for a time the length of which was lost to both.

The twin eventually composed herself, smearing barely held back tears across her sleeve. She attempted to gently break away from Anna's locked arms, wincing as the sound of metal rang out. Yet another apologetic look, yet another bemused and uninjured response. Regardless of this little exchange, the princess did not budge. The twin finally gave up and stared at her now gauntlet-equipped hands, the events of the past few minutes flooding into her mind.

"Adrian, why'd you put metal gloves on my hands?" she asked.

"You were rapidly losing control. The room was getting hotter by the second, and gloves hinder the flow of magic."

The twin was at a loss. "What?"

Adrian tried to explain again. "Elsa wears gloves that contain her magic. Well, she used to, but now only puts them on when she's about to freeze the room she's in."

The twin's confused look only deepened as he spoke. "Elsa has magic gloves that contain her ice ability. Great." She shakes her head and chuckles. "I'm glad that works for her. I see a slight issue with trying to use metal to contain heat, though."

"The gloves aren't magic, they just ord..."

"What would you have him do, then? Let you burn down the castle?" Kristoff interrupted with a hint of annoyance.

"Kristoff!" Anna said with a shocked look on her face.

"What? All she's done since she woke up is complain."

"Well, no. But it seems a little useless to me," the twin responded, clanking her hands together in an attempt to stop the oncoming argument.

Adrian caught on immediately. "Explain why the room returned to normal after I put them on your hands, then." The doctor's face was far too smug with the results of his work.

"It did?" The twin was perplexed.

"Yes!" The other three shouted in unison, prompting her to cover her ears.

"Jeez! Keep it down, you'll wake her Icefullness", she said, earning a giggle from Anna. "I'd imagine she'd not be happy with the news that I don't have control over this stuff either."

"You're right about that," mumbled the ice harvester, earning a light punch from Anna. "Hey!" He said in mock protest.

"Stop whining, you survived a fall off a 200 foot cliff."

"Into snow!"

"After getting your head bashed against the cliffside!" Anna retorted.

"Because we were being chased by an ice monster you pissed off!"

"We wouldn't have been caught if you climbed down the rope faster!"

"No escape would have been necessary if you had left Marshmallow alone!"

"Well it's not nice to throw people!" Anna said, assaulting Kristoff with mock punches.

"Alright! You win! Cut it out!" he said while attempting to shield his face from her assault.

Adrian stepped in between Anna and Kristoff. "Can we get back to the topic, please?"

"Fine!" the lovers replied, ending their mock spat.

The twin got up, dusting off her dress. "That's right. The issue. It seems to me that metal is the most useless thing we could think of to contain heat. Sure, it works up to a degree," she said, snickering at her pun, "but that is far below the level necessary to create solid balls of fire."

"Normally that would be true," Adrian said, "but my limited study of Elsa's powers suggest there is a mental component to magic."

"The gloves help my sister control her powers because that's what our parents told her they did," Anna said, crestfallen. "They... they never got to tell her otherwise," she finished, stifling a sniffle.

"Why? Did they forget or something?" the twin asked, absentmindedly picking at a rough spot on her gauntlets.

Anna drew even further back into herself, causing Kristoff to wrap her in his strong arms. "They died when Anna was 15," he said, his voice taking on a caring tone.

"At sea," Adrian chimed in.

The twin immediately stopped fiddling with her gauntlets. "Oh." She looked at the floor, guilt written all over her face. "I'm sorry for your loss."

They stood there in silence, Anna and Kristoff engaged in a comforting hug, the twin sheepishly looking at her feet for broaching such a sensitive subject, and Adrian caught in a starting match with her hands. He was looking for any signs of heat; air distortion, a splotch of red color in the metal, or wisps of grey smoke. Thankfully, none came into being, save the trick of the eyes starting at one spot intently gave.

Wishing to break the silence now that he was sure the twin's powers were in check, Adrian cleared his throat. The other three snapped out of their respective mental worlds. "I believe a test is in order. We need to know for sure that you will not accidentally burn up the village." The twin visibly gulped. "After all, even with her gloves, Elsa still set off an extremely harsh winter when she lost control. I do not want to find out fire's equivalent of that."

The twin chuckled at that. "No, I suppose not. It's likely not pleasant." She sighed, closing her eyes and drawing in a deep breath in an attempt to relax. "If we are going to test this, it'd be best to do so in an environment very resistant to heat."

Anna piped up, an idea popping into her head. "The dungeon! It's made of stone! That should be the perfect place." She was positively beaming. "Come on, let's get going!" She began hobbling to her bedroom door.

"Woah, hold on there, feisty-pants," Kristoff said, grabbing Anna to support her weight. The twin giggled at the nickname, earning a glare from the princess. "You're in no shape to go anywhere but this bed."

Putting on the best regal air she could muster, Anna replied with a haughty denial. "Nonsense! A princess is always ready for going around her castle," she yawned, "at an insane hour. Come on, Kristoff." Another yawn. "We've got an appointment in the dungeons."

She took only a couple more steps before collapsing backwards onto the ice harvester, the past hours finally catching up with her. "On second thought, maybe I should lie down. Kristoff, if you'd help me to the bed..." she struggled to say. He obliged and guided her shaking frame back to her bed.

"It's fine, Anna, your twin and I can handle this on our own." Adrian said, motioning for the aforementioned pyrokinetic to head to the door. "Kristoff, stay with her, and make sure she gets plenty of water."

"As if you need to tell me twice," Anna's boyfriend replIed with a smirk, helping her under the covers. "If you need me, I'll be here."

"Very good. Come along, you," Adrian said, stepping outside the room and holding the door open for the twin.

"Thanks for holding the door for me," she noted, nodding her head in a gracious manner. "Man, Anna's a handful, isn't she?"

"You have no idea. Those gauntlets you're wearing? They're from a suit of armor Anna crashed into, completely dismantling, at least several hundred times during her life."

"Wow. How is that girl still alive?" asked the twin in wonder.

"Many, including myself, suspect that Anna actually does have a form of magic; an unnatural ability to bounce back from any injury. She also seems to resist traditional magic, spells and the like, to an odd degree. What she did not tell you in the story is that she survived with her heart frozen for two whole days after Elsa froze it."

"You'll have to forgive me," the twin said as they turned a corner, "but I'm new here. What's the normal time for someone with a frozen heart to survive?"

"Well, Elsa doesn't make it a habit of going around freezing people, so all we have to go on are old legends. That said, they range in the area of seconds, to hours at the maximum."

The twin nearly tripped over her own feet. "That is a very big difference, Adrian."

"Thus the the theory." He reached out to keep her from falling down the dungeon steps. "Watch where you place your feet. The under belly of the castle is not as sturdy as the rest of it."

"Doesn't that place the castle in danger of sinking!?" the twin asked in a panic.

The doctor shook his head. "The way Castle Arendelle was built prevents that from occurring. Sure, the dungeon might sink into the ground, but the rest of the structure would be none the wiser."

They'd reached the bottom of the steps. Before them stood a dark door, wood painted black with iron bars where a window should have been. The wood looked rotten and forgotten, standing as a testament to what was contained within.

The twin felt a shudder go down her spine. "So this is the dungeon, huh?"

Adrian pursed his lips. "Yep."

"Lives up to the name. Very gloomy."

Adrian merely nodded his agreement.

"So how will we test my powers without interacting with the prisoners?"

The doctor noticed her change in terminology. She was finally beginning to accept the state of things. "There are no prisoners."

"What, really?" She asked, a disbelieving look on her face.

"Yes, really. The castle dungeon hasn't been used in over 50 years. Except to hold Elsa, of course, and that was only a one time thing." Adrian chuckled at her perplexed expression. "The late king and queen had a very good rule. And nobody has tried to cross the 'Snow Queen' just yet."

"Do people really call her that?" The twin asked, a look of pity in her eyes for the young queen.

"Yes. She doesn't like it much, either." Adrian grumbled. "We've gotten pretty absorbed in this topic though. You even seem a little cold."

"That's because I am!" the twin exclaimed, rubbing her shoulders with her gauntletted hands. "Wish I had these things off to warm up a bit."

And just like that, the hallway's temperature shot up a few degrees. The two looked at each other in surprise, then to the gauntlets. They had not changed.

"Curious. Even with your hands covered, it appears you still command heat," Adrian said, shifting into his scientist mode.

"Apparently," the twin replied. "Come on, let's do that test. I'm getting tired of looking at this rotted old door."

Adrian approached the door, grabbing a key from his skeleton key ring. Just as he was about to put it in the lock, however, the twin grabbed his arm and pulled him backwards with great force.

"Hey, what gives?"

"Shush, look at the door!" the twin replied, a look of pure wonder on her face.

Adrian quit struggling and did as she bade him. He was confused for a while until he followed her gaze. The bottom of the door was ablaze, the flames seeming to lick up the wood. He expected to feel heat, for the door to burn to ashes; but it did not. Instead, the flames crept up the rotted old wood, travelling along it much as an ocean wave across the sand. What they left in their wake was remarkable. The door the flames had passed over was now a shiny gray metal, inlaid with glowing orange swirls and golden rosemaling. The swirls seemed to contain smoke, dancing around as if in a mirror.

"Wow," they both said in unison, watching the flame finish it's journey up the door. As it dissipated, a burst of fire materialized in front of the twin. Hesitantly, she held out her hand; a golden key formed from the flames and dropped into it with a loud clang. Then all traces of fire left the hallway, the door and key the only evidence they were ever there.

"What was that?" asked Adrian.

"I have absolutely no idea," the twin responded, her eyes still wide at what she had witnessed.

"Well, I don't have magic. So whatever that was, it came from you."

She gulped, beads of sweat running down her forehead. "What... what else can my powers do?"

As if in response, the key lifted out of her still open hand, and moved slowly towards the newly remade door. Both she and Adrian watched as it slid into the keyhole and turned. The door slowly opened without a sound, beckoning them into the lit corridor beyond.

"Shall we go in?" The twin asked nobody in particular.

"After you," the scientist said.

And so, with great hesitation, they went into whatever lay beyond…

**Author's Note:**

Sorry this took so long. Between the plot rewrite, college, and writing my game, my time was taken up. Good news is, plot is back on track and XMas vacation is coming soon.


	7. Chapter 7 - Echoes

**Chapter Seven**

_Echoes_

Two Days before The Arrival

It was peaceful in the Valley of the Rocks. Many boulders, great and small, were scattered this way and that, all with a great deal of moss growing to face the moon. To the untrained and unknowing eye, it appeared an ancient rockslide had deposited them there. The repeat observer, however, would find that these rocks changed their positions every night. There were no observers tonight, on the eve of the solstice; for all was still along the Valley's stepped surface, not a being in sight save a solitary moth. The winged insect fluttered this way and that, seeking out a source of warmth and shelter from the cold of winter. It was drawn to a small opening in the hillside, the instincts of nature assuring that warmth could be found within. The moth, having followed these instincts it's whole life, obliged with their direction, and continued deeper into the dark space.

Once it reached the back wall, the moth was brought to question those instincts. The only thing in here was a rock like the others outside, merely a tad bigger. Too tired to continue and with wings slowly frosting over, the moth landed on the rock's mossy surface. It's heart began to slow down, the soft wings fluttering no more. Just as a last glimpse of reality was about to disappear, the rock began to move. The moth found hands made of stone enclosing it, and a sudden orange glow enter the cave. Heat, life-giving heat spread across it's wings, the frost dissipating in the presence of an overpowering opposite.

"There there, little one," a gravelly voice said. The moth opened it's eyes to the world once more and beheld a peculiar sight; for the rock it had alighted on appeared to be a troll. "It is not quite your time yet." The troll took an orange crystal from his neck and gently placed it next to the moth in his hand. The small being snuggled up to the crystal that had saved it's life, grabbing on with tiny feet. The old troll chuckled, a deep hearty laugh, and gently placed the orange crystal, along with it's rider, on the ground.

Pabbie, leader of the rock trolls, slowly got up onto his feet. He stretched his back a bit, then rolled over to the cave entrance, looking out over his sleeping tribe. They looked so content lying in their rolled up forms. He sighed, for he knew the peaceful times of the recent years were over. The dream he'd just been woken from foretold a cataclysm. Someone with magic was coming to Arendelle. While there had been little context in his dream, what clues he remembered indicated that this newcomer's powers were just as great as Queen Elsa's. That sent a shiver down Pabbie's back. He'd always hated dealing with Elemental magic. It was too hard to control, too random in it's design. _What the Queen did this summer was terrifying to everyone, especially the humans_, he thought with dismay, _but her 'Eternal Winter' was nothing compared to what I've seen Elementals do._ He shook his head. _Another one of them in Arendelle? This will not end well._

Pabbie paced the cave's opening, rubbing his beard of moss with one hand, the other clasped behind his back. There had only ever been three Elementals in this part of the world, and he'd taken care of the latter two personally. The third had been sealed by Elsa's mother. _She never knew that I found out what she did_, he affirmed with a sad heart, _but how could I not investigate the reason she wanted a kingdom-wide memory wipe? Blasted Ingrid. Your heart grows dark in your prison, yet I cannot free you._ He stopped pacing, frowning at her unclear future. _You must not be allowed to interfere with Elsa and Anna's lives. Or the life of this new one._

Another aspect of the dream came to the troll leader, causing him to nearly trip over a pebble in his path. _No. Fire? That is not good at all..._ He increased his pace. _The newcomer... seems familiar somehow. I cannot quite place where I've felt their particular blend of magic before, but the power of flame... it is not new to this land._

A cough sounded from the stone below the case's entrance. Pabbie snapped out of his trance and tried to identify the source. The moon was nearly full tonight, so he picked out the form of Bulda very quickly. He immediately lost his pensive frown, donning a grandfatherly, kind smile. "Yes, Bulda? What has you up so late?"

The female troll snorted, a grin on her face. "Don't 'Yes, Bulda?' me, Grand Pabbie. I know that look you just hid. You've had a vision again."

Pabbie sighed, having lost this argument far to many times to try and deny it. "Indeed I have, young one. And I fear it is not good news."

Bulda put her hands on her hips, swaying them to the side. When Pabbie did not continue, she said "Well? Out with it then!"

"An Elemental is coming to Arendelle."

Bulda's eyes widened until they were as big as her hands, which flew to cover her mouth. "What? Another one?"

"Yes. And this one, I fear, brings a storm in their wake." Pabbie replied, his eyes downcast. "Though they are not the cause of the destruction I see, they do have a part to play." He grunted, shifting his weight to the other foot. _I'm not as young as I used to be_. "Whoever they are, I cannot shake the feeling that I've met them before... long ago..." Pabbie's mind trailed off, once more trying to place the newcomer in his memories. "Go to sleep, Bulda. I will wake you if anything more comes to me."

Bulda sighed, her granite lungs producing a grinding sound. "As you wish, Grand Pabbie. But you'd better follow through on that promise." She turned around and rolled away, back to the spot of ground that now seemed empty of rocks, for the sleeping trolls had a pattern only the subconscious noticed.

Pabbie replied with a smile, though he knew she could not hear him; "I always do, young one. I always do."

* * *

On the other side of the North Mountain, the city of Arendelle slept like a baby. A baby which had spurts of burping in it's slumber, small bouts of noise eeking out from here and there. It was a restless, forced sleep however; for Yuletide was around the corner, just barely a week away. All around the town streams of colored ribbon could be found, red as a rose and green as the forest. Several taverns still had their lanterns lit, and joyful songs could be heard from the drunken patrons within. The children of Arendelle slept much like the town itself, dreaming the days away until Saint Nicholas would bring them presents under their trees. The spirit of giving was in the air, lifting the hopes of those few who ventured out this late into the night and pulling smiles on their faces. Several young men walked the streets on dates with their lovers, taking in the midnight air and falling snow. One such couple was nowhere near Arendelle, despite being able to view it's grandeur; Anna and Kristoff were high upon the North Mountain in a palace made of ice.

"Oh Kristoff, isn't it beautiful?" Anna asked him, standing on one of the palace's many balconies. The ice harvester nodded and hummed his agreement, one hand around her waist and another rubbing the frozen guardrail. He never got over this masterpiece, the incredible beauty of Elsa's magic. Her ice radiated it's own light, shining as a beacon of warmth to all who could see. Despite it's natural composition, the palace was rather temperate; the magic that held it together seemed impervious to flame or heat. And yet it was warm. Perfectly livable for any being who deemed fit to stay there. Whether it was the Royals in the master suite or the two snowmen in the foyer, the rooms of the palace changed their temperature by themselves. All this impressed the hell out of Kristoff.

"Awfully nice of Elsa to send Olaf up here with us, wasn't it?" he asked Anna, nudging her a bit to carry across his sarcasm.

The princess giggled. "Kristoff, you know she doesn't trust us alone together." Her lips spread into a beaming smile as she turned her head to look up at him. "Not until a wedding, at least."

He looked down into her big blue eyes and found her smile spreading to him like a virus. "Well that's because whenever we're alone together, we do this!" He rushed down to her face, his lips locking into hers with a deep passion. Anna was surprised for a moment, but then allowed herself to get lost in his kiss. She closed her eyes and their tongues engaged in a battle to rival the Arendellian Guard's practice matches. Slides and parries, twists and turns, and ever deeper did their mouths entwine. Eventually they ran out of breath and had to separate, but no one could mistake the glow in their cheeks for the frosty air.

Catching her breath, Anna broke into an even wider smile than before. "Yes. We do that." She rested her head against Kristoff's broad chest, guiding his arm back around her shoulders. She felt protected in his presence, and in the months they'd been dating figured out what 'True Love' is. She felt it for her burly ice harvester, and she knew he felt it for her. They were taking it slowly, however, to appease Elsa. After her stunt with Hans that summer, Anna wasn't surprised in the least. Not that she hadn't been annoyed when her sister had made it a royal decree.

"Do what, guys?" The sudden noise made the lovers jump a good distance into the air. Anna turned around and took in the little snowman that had waddled up; a living being despite his construction of snow. "Hey, Olaf!" she said, smiling, and got down on her knees to even out the height difference. Kristoff merely bent down onto his left knee, patting Olaf's wooden "hair". Their positions reminded Anna of another time, sans a reindeer.

"Hey Anna! Hey Kristoff! What were you guys doing?" the snowman asked again. The two lovers looked to each other and blushed, but said nothing. Dense as he was, Olaf did not catch on. "Oooh, were you looking at the view? It's amazing from here!" he said, the limited time he could hold his concentration expired. The little being of snow waddled over to the edge of the balcony, pushing his head in between the bars and holding onto them with two arms made of wood. "Arendelle is so pretty at night, don't you think?"

Anna and Kristoff joined him at the edge, using the snowman to separate themselves from one another. They each leaned on the balcony railing, sighing in agreement. "It's actually quite beautiful", said the princess in a rare instance of princess-like speech. Kristoff merely grunted.

* * *

There was one place down in the town which was not peaceful. Far from it, to be frank. Although, to call the queen's bedroom a part of the town would be inappropriate, despite Elsa's best efforts to blend in with her people. Tonight she lay in her bed, tossing and turning, fear causing her powers to flare out of control. Waves of ice originated from her body, rapidly flowing down the bedsheets onto the floor, where they took hold of the ground and layered more ice upon that which already existed. Spikes covered the walls, reaching after the queen to stop mere inches from her skin. What walls did not have spikes were covered in a meter of ice, causing the room to seem much smaller than it normally was. Yet another night, yet another nightmare. They'd gotten progressively worse since the Eternal Winter, despite Elsa's reparations with her sister, the adoration of her people and Arendelle's new prosperity. Despite these things, the poor girl could not believe she was good. Words haunted her at night; "monster", "sorcerer", "demon". She had told Anna about these nightmares once, to which her sister promptly replied by marching to the Navy General's office and ordering an all-out attack on Weselton. Elsa came running in only a few seconds later, countermanding the order and taking the princess aside for a little talk. While she'd managed to convince Anna not to sail to Germany herself and personally attack anyways, Elsa had to concede a banishment order for anyone from Weselton. The order was passed to Kai and signed into law. The queen had done her best to keep all knowledge of these nightmares from Anna from then on, simply replying with "I'm okay" whenever asked.

The dream that befell the Queen tonight was much like her other nightmares. They all involved Anna. Most of them depicted Anna suffering from a form of magical ice; slowly, over a period of days, or in a matter of minutes. All of them forced Elsa to watch, powerless to move or interfere as her sister froze to death before her eyes. But this one took quite a different turn; it burned.

_The ground around her was completely black. The queen looked around, getting up from her knees. What covered the ground must have been soot, for she had to dust it off her dress of ice. A dense wasteland met her eyes, the remnants of tree trunks charred to a crisp. This must have been a forest, but there were no signs of life anywhere. Elsa wondered how she had survived such an apocalypse. Then the thought hit her; "Anna!" she screamed to the sky. Frantically she searched the ground for any sign of her sister, but nothing was found, not even remains. She refused to believe Anna was dead; furthermore she swore she could feel it. She couldn't be dead. A twinkle of sunlight caught her eye, reflected off a black tower in the distance, and pulled Elsa out of her panic. Whoever was in that tower, surely, knew where Anna was. It was quite far away, so the queen summoned a sled and horse made of ice to carry her there. Or rather, she tried; for nothing appeared. Puzzled, she tried again, raising her hands for emphasis. Nothing. "What", Elsa said. Then she noticed her hands; on them were gloves like the ones she used to wear, but these were made of metal. White, very thin metal. And inlaid upon these gloves were blue, glowing lines. She noticed they formed a pattern; her signature snowflake. The lines came together into the snowflake on the back of her hands, with a small blue stone in the middle of each. Also glowing blue._

_On a hunch, Elsa tried to summon anything, even a snowball. She watched the lines closely, getting her answer when they glowed much stronger for a second, then returned to their normal level. "Guess somebody finally figured out how to disable my powers" she said. A sigh of relief hit her as fast as her realization did; her powers couldn't hurt anyone ever again. Not Anna, not Kristoff, not Arendelle. She broke down right there and cried, knees once more hitting the soot covered ground. Tears of joy sprang forth for a while, but then turned to conflicted sadness. Without her powers, it would take far longer to reach the black tower, time which Anna, wherever she was, may not have left. What was she going to do!? She got up and started pacing, grinding a circular path into the ash. Well, the gloves had to come off this time. A way must be located to remove them. She stopped pacing and held her hands up to eye level, studying the gloves in further detail. She noticed something interesting. The stones on her hands were set inside a ring of sorts. In fact, the stones looked like they could be pushed… in…._

_Elsa lightly tried pushing in the right hand's stone with her left. It depressed, as she suspected, but for a second nothing occurred. Then the lines on her right glove stopped glowing completely, and the metal at the top of her arm started to flow like liquid towards her hand. Likewise, the metal at the tips of her fingers flowed toward the stone, which was moving up her hand to her wrist, where it settled. Eventually all the metal concentrated in a bracelet around the wrist, solidifying and regaining the glowing lines. Elsa had never seen metal act that way; but she'd never seen a material capable of outright stopping her powers either. She pushed the left stone and the process repeated. Just to be sure, she pushed the right stone again, and her glove reformed. The queen cycled through this several times, testing out her powers in both states to see if their power-disabling properties had been damaged. Her powers worked when the gloves were in bracelet form, and didn't when they were in glove form. This was absolutely incredible. She'd have to find the person who made these later and thank them. For now though, she set them to bracelet form and summoned the horse and sleigh. Then she set off for the black tower._

_As the sleigh slid through the ash, the skids started to become black. Elsa surveyed the land, feeling an odd sense of deja vu. It seemed so familiar for some reason… the shape reminded her of a place she'd been, but no name came to mind. She passed the charred remains of what might have been houses, or a bakery. This was a street in a city, she realized. With people. The thought of all those that must have died, coupled with the sudden jerks of her sleigh, overpowered her stomach, sending green regurgitations over the side. By the time her stomach had recovered, the sleigh had reached the black tower. Or rather, the gates that stood in front of the tower. Standing next to the gates on either side were huge suits of armor made out of a dark metal, standing at attention and holding some kind of hand cannon. Everything from their guns to their heads were covered in the same glowing lines her gloves had been in, except their color was that of the noon sun. Elsa just now also noticed another difference: the lines on her gloves were straight, angular. Very geometric in design. The lines on these armor suits were much more.. organic; they exhibited curves and swirls, flowing like water. In the place of a human (or giant's) head, there was a ball of pure fire, licking the outside world as if to taste it. It wasn't too much of a jump to conclude that these things were powered by magic different from her own._

_Elsa stepped out of the sleigh, noting that the ground no longer had ash on it, but was covered by the same metal that made up the suits of armor. The second her stiletto heel hit the ground with a clink, the suits began to approach her rather rapidly. The sudden movement caused her to scream out loud, losing her cool for the first time in a very long time. One of the suits knelt down in front of her, and the ball of fire in it's helmet gained eyes and a mouth, if you could call them that. "Ma'am, please stop screaming." it requested in an oddly soothing voice. She complied, realizing what she had done. Her queenly mannerisms returned, and so she curtsied to the guard._

"_I must apologize, but you surprised me", Elsa said, holding her shoulders high. Her scream had not been what a queen should do, especially not one so familiar with magic as she was._

"_That's fine, we got that a lot", the guard replied, returning to it's towering stance upon both feet. "What has brought you to Arendelle?"_

_Elsa's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets. "Did you say Arendelle?"_

"_That is correct. This is Arendelle Tower." the left guard, silent until now, replied._

_Elsa spun around, looking back across the bridge she'd crossed to approach the tower. It did look familiar, true. But there was a canyon underneath it, leading out into a… large… valley... She looked to her left, up towards a giant mountain with lava spewing from the top. A volcano, and an active one at that. But it looked a lot like the North Mountain…_

"_Which compass direction is that?" she asked the guards, pointing towards the volcano._

"_North, of course." was the reply._

"_But.. What? Where's the fjord? The North Mountain isn't a volcano, it's covered in snow!" Elsa yelled, turning to look across the bridge again. At the buildings, charred and abandoned. "What happened to the town?" She felt her control begin to slip, and the temperature dropped significantly. She was panicking, truly and thoroughly. Those buildings couldn't be… There's no way…_

_Elsa turned back to the guards with a very cross look on her face. The guards inched back a couple feet, getting into a combat stance. She'd nearly lost control and was trying so, so hard to hang on. The guards weren't sure who she was, but somewhere in the back of their minds a warning to get ready was sounding._

"_WHERE. IS. MY. SISTER!?" the Ice Queen demanded, finally losing it, cold exploding from her in all directions. A blizzard began to form above the tower, and the ground was soon covered in snow. A whirling maelstrom of ice formed around her, and she walked towards the guards, who were having a hard enough time with the cold as it was, much less a blizzard smacking them in the face._

"_This isn't possible! You're supposed to be dead!" the left guard exclaimed, trying to hold out against the storm. They finally realized who she was._

"_I'm supposed to be WHAT?!" she screamed, the intensity of her powers only increasing._

_The guard chose to rephrase his statement. "I didn't mean it like that! Nobody tried to kill you. You just disappeared one day!"_

"_PEOPLE DON'T JUST DISAPPEAR. YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW."_

_If the guards had throats, very audible gulping would have been heard._

"_ABOUT ARENDELLE. ABOUT MY 'DISAPPEARANCE'. ABOUT ANNA. OR I AM GOING TO FREEZE YOU SOLID!"_

_A fourth voice sounded out above the maelstrom, saying something Elsa didn't understand or try to listen to. "Command override. Enable safety. Authcode delta-delta-four. Execute."_

_The Ice Queen had a weird feeling in her hands, and brought them to eye level to investigate. Her gloves had left their bracelet form and were covering her hands again. As the metal closed it's grip and the lines began to glow, she felt the connection being severed. Her powers were once again disabled, and the snowstorm stopped twirling. She looked around for the newcomer who'd done this to her, only barely registering that this person must be the creator of the gloves, and her vision landed upon a lone figure standing in the now open gateway._

"ANNA!", Elsa screamed, sitting up in bed rapidly. It took her a few seconds to check where she was; on her bed, in her room. In Arendelle Castle. No fire and suit-of-armor guards. No volcano North Mountain. No charred remains of the town. She got up to verify all those things, for she could see the North Mountain and the town from her window. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped back from the windowsill, then realized something _was_ different. The floor was covered in ice, as usual, but the ice spikes that grew out from the walls every night… something had happened to them. They were barely stumps, and their tips were blackened.


	8. Chapter 8 - Beacon

**Chapter 8**

_Beacon_

The hallway they walked into seemed impossible; openings in the walls led to even more corridors, some sloping up whilst others sloped down. Torches lined the main hallway at regular intervals, one on each side. As the duo approached each pair, cautious beyond extreme, they would light up, causing Anna's twin to jump backwards at the sudden flame. It took a while, but Adrian grew tired of the constant stops; so much that he took off her gauntlets and instructed her to light her own flame. The jumping and stopping ceased after that.

"Think it's pretty safe to assume this isn't the dungeon", the twin remarked, sending a fireball down a side corridor. Seeing nothing but more empty hallway, she returned her attention forwards.

Adrian chuckled with a hearty laugh. "No, no, I'd have been much more excited to come here if it was." Another fireball was loosed. He sighed. "I wonder where we are exactly. Given," another fireball, "Ah hem… Given that we've passed about 20 of these hallways, and each is about..." pausing his musings, the scientist moved to the opening of a hallway and estimated "Ten meters across?" with an unsure tone. The whir of another fireball went whizzing down the hallway, having passed right by his ear. He turned around irately. "Would you stop that? If there is anyone, much less anything down here, I doubt they'd much like getting a blast to the face."

A look of disbelief overtook the twin's face. "Do you _know _there's 'things' down here?" She smirked, and sent another ball up the opposite, sloping corridor.

"No, but it doesn't hurt to be careful," he said, pushing her raised hand to her side. "It usually ends up hurting when you aren't."

The twin scowled at him, but she stopped generating fireballs. "I hate it when people make good points."

"Ha ha. You sound just like Anna."

She cocked her head to the side. "How so?"

Adrian had a wide, kind smile on his face, the type grandparents look at their grandchildren with. "She never likes my good points, either."

"Pfft. Figures" the twin muttered, crossing her arms. "You were saying?"

The scientist stroked his chin for a couple of seconds before remembering. "Oh, right. As I said, about ten meters across. There's maybe twenty or twenty-five meters between each corridor opening. A total of thirty-five-ish meters repeating twenty times. That's over half a klick."

"A 'klick'?"

"Military speak for a kilometer. Why they can't just say that is beyond me. Anyways, half a kilometer from the entrance of the dungeon of Arendelle Castle is in the middle of the ocean." Adrian replied.

She laughed. "Well maybe we're under the ocean."

"A sound theory, except look back behind you." The twin did so. "We can still see the entrance door. Thus we've been travelling horizontally, more or less, the entire time."

The twin rested her elbow in her other hand, her face pressed against the raised palm in thought. "Huh." She drummed her fingers for a few seconds. "So what you're saying is, we should be drowning right now."

"Yes, exactly. Even if somehow a tunnel like this lay hidden under Arendelle all these years, which is unlikely to say the least given how much the previous royals liked searching the castle, we're supposed to be under fifty plus meters of ocean right now." Adrian finished with a seriously intense face.

The twin spun around, raising her hands high above her to emphasize her point. "Well maybe this tunnel isn't under Arendelle at all!" she exclaimed. "Can't magic make doors into portals?"

Adrian looked up at her with sudden interest. "I've heard of it happening, yes, but how would you know about that? You can't even remember your name."

She looked back with a hurt expression, sighing "Yes, well… I'm getting bits and pieces back. Meaningless things, nothing substantial. Random facts I'd heard." The twin lowered her head and bit her lip. "You don't have to be so mean about it. Not like I can help my amnesia, you know."

Adrian realized his mistake slower than he should have. "You are right. I apologize. It's good that you're remembering something, though." He offered a smile in truce.

The twin sighed again. "Thanks. You're not wrong though. I can't remember my name and it frustrates me. A lot. Especially because you, Anna, Queen Elsa and everybody else has to call me 'you' until I do. You all fumble your sentences because of that." She started walking again, lighting another flame and dropping her other hand to her side.

Struggling to catch up to her brisk, irritated pace, Adrian thought of something. "Well, if you need a name for us to call you… How about Arianna?"

"That sounds an awful lot like Anna to me," she replied.

"You look a lot like Anna to us," came the retort.

She stopped and looked him dead in the eye. Given his foot of extra height on her, the staredown looked quite uneven. After a few seconds of silence, she shrugged and said, "Touche'". She continued her brisk walk. "So, Arianna. Where'd you manage to come up with that?"

"I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but 'ari' is very close to the Ancient Norse word for 'not'." he said, anxiously rubbing the back of his head.

The twin stopped in her tracks and shot him a sarcastic 'who-are-you-kidding' face. "Seriously? My name is 'Not Anna'?"

He shrugged. "If the shoe fits."

"Fair enough."

Silence returned to the hallway, neither believing there was more to say. Broken only by the crackle of Arianna's fire, the still in the air was uncanny. Several chills went up their spines as they walked further and further down the seemingly endless expanse. They passed three dozen more side hallways until theirs terminated in a large, circular room. There were tables laid about, some with dust-covered books and others barren, the dust having nowhere to settle but their surfaces.

It was Adrian who spoke first. "It's about time that hallway ended. My legs are not happy with me right now."

"Stop complaining. You probably could use the exercise," Arianna muttered while walking up to one of the tables, "Besides, if you're really that tired, go rest against one of those pillars."

"I think I'll do that. Just don't touch anything," the scientist replied after a deep breath.

The pillars she spoke of arrayed the room's edge, the same width apart as the hallway the visitors had just left. In between all but the two that bordered the entry hallway were large black stones, polished to a perfect shine and extremely rectangular in nature. Arrayed on the bottom right of every single one was a set of 5 stones of the same material, arrayed in sequence with symbols etched in them Arianna had never seen before. She looked between the books and these stones several times before it dawned on her that the symbols were very similar.

"Hey Adrian," she called, "See if you can read this."

He threw his hands up in the air. "What? Oh come on, I was just about to sit down!"

She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. "Well I can't read it."

"And I'm not reading it. I'm going to sit down and rest my legs."

"Fine then. I guess I'll just tap these things till something happens."

"Yeah, sure, ok." A couple seconds passed until what Arianna had said registered. "Wait, WHAT?"

"Too late!" she said, giggling, and lightly tapped one of the stones. To her surprise, it slid into the larger slate and began to glow. "Uh oh."

Adrian ran over as quickly as he could. "What did you do?"

"I may have pushed one of the stones. And it may or may not have slid in all the way and started glowing," she replied with a look of concern on her face.

"I told you not to touch anything!"

"And I asked you for help reading these! But were you going to? NOOO, your legs were more IMPORTANT!"

"That's no reason to be going around, touching things you don't understand."

"OH YEAH? WELL..." Arianna began to retort, trying to think of a comeback, "You... still didn't help me." She crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue.

A smile broke out across Adrian's face. He'd won that verbal joust. Turning back to the wall, he bent down to get a closer look at the stones. "Alright, which one did you press?"

"The glowing one, obviously," Arianna scoffed.

"They're all glowing."

"What," she said, leaning down next to Adrian to get a better look. Due to her shorter height, less leaning was required. "Oh. That can't be good."

Adrian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Let's just see if I can read these." He focused on the stones, running his hand gently over the etched symbols so as not to press another. "These look a lot like ancient Celtic runes to me, but the dialect is... weird, to say the least."

Arianna shot him a look of disbelief. "How many ancient languages do you know!?"

"Haha," he replied with another smile and a shake of the head, "Let's just say it was really isolated in the castle during Elsa and Anna's growing years."

"And you studied ancient languages the entire time?"

"They were a lot of years," Adrian exclaimed with a saddened look. He only let it show for a second, then was back to his old self. "Alright, since these runes don't make sense, I'll just read them off. In order from left to right, they say Control, Menu, Left, Right, Return and Power."

"Well that doesn't make sense," Arianna grumbled.

"I told you it didn't."

"Hmmm... I've got an idea." On a hunch, she pushed the Power stone. Like she suspected, all the stones stopped glowing in sequence, ending with the stone she'd just pressed. "I knew it. These stones don't make up a sentence, Adrian. They're buttons, which means whatever this is, it's some kind of machine."

"A machine?" he asked, looking very thrilled, "Ooh, this sounds very interesting. If these are buttons, then they're probably only active when 'Power' is on." Adrian pushed it again, lighting up the other stones. "When you order at a restaurant, the menu tells you what's available. Wonder what it does here?" he said, pushing the Menu stone.

In the middle of the giant slate, a glowing rectangular outline appeared. Six more runes faded into existence just above the outline, centered at the top. Three handprints appeared, each with a symbol above it. The left handprint had a diamond, the middle displayed the mathematical equals symbol, and the right a swirl.

"So what do those say?" Arianna asked.

Adrian scratched his chin while gazing at the runes. "These at least make up a sentence. Uh, something like 'Proof of person required for access'. Whatever that means."

"Still doesn't make sense."

"Nope."

Arianna slowly moved her hand to hover above one of the handprints.

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Got another hunch?"

"Sort of. The door for this place appeared when I used magic, right?"

"Yes, that appears to have happened."

"So, this place is attuned to magic. It would make sense that this machine is the same."

"I don't see what you're getting at."

"Well, what happens if I place my hand on one of these handprints?"

Adrian looked at the ceiling in mock concentration and listed items off on his fingers. "Let's see. Your hand could be destroyed, something magically bad could happen, you could be taken over by the machine and then I'm screwed, Arendelle could be destroyed, among other things."

Arianna glanced over her shoulder at him, amused. "Where'd you get all that from?"

Adrian shrugged. "The castle has a big library."

"I doubt any of that will happen. Why let us in here just to kill us?"

"If you get me killed or blow up Arendelle, I'm not going to defend you from Elsa," said Adrian, holding up his hands in surrender.

Arianna laughed. "I'll take that under consideration," she said, and laid her right hand flat against the middle handprint. A glowing arrow appeared pointing to the right handprint. "Huh. Wrong one, perhaps?"

"Looks like it," said Adrian.

"Alright then," replied Arianna, who moved her hand over to the correct handprint. As soon as her hand was in place, a female voice rang out from nowhere, startling both of them.

"Voice system access granted. Arianna the Protector recognized," said the voice.

Adrian and Arianna stared at each other wide-eyed. She spoke first. "What was that?"

The voice replied before Adrian could. "That information requires three."

Adrian raised both eyebrows. "Three what?"

"Three authorized administrators."

"What are authorized administrators?" asked Arianna.

"Any member of House Arendelle by blood and power," replied the voice.

Arianna looked to Adrian. "House Arendelle?"

The scientist was deep in thought for a few moments before he replied. "House Arendelle usually refers to the Royal family. And 'by blood' to those sharing their blood. Currently that means Elsa and Anna. Not sure what the 'by power' part means though."

Realization dawned on Arianna so hard she smacked herself in the face. "This place recognized me. By name. A name we literally just made up. 'Arianna the Protector', quote unquote."

Adrian frowned. "You don't have a title, though. We don't even know if you're actually related to the royals."

Smiling, Arianna threw the finger counting back in his face. "Yes, we do. Now we do. 'Any member of House Arendelle by blood and power'. Think about it, Adrian! I was recognized, and assuming I am related, I match both those requirements; 'by blood', blood relation! And 'by power' could refer to having magic."

The voice chimed in. "Arianna the Protector is a member of House Arendelle."

Adrian threw up his hands. "I guess that settles it then," he said while waving his hands emphatically, "Praise the gods! A new princess of Arendelle has arrived!"

"Sarcasm isn't helpful, Adrian," Arianna scolded, her arms crossed.

"Just because some machine in a magical complex under Arendelle that's never been discovered proclaims you as being royal blood does not make it true, Arianna. Only a blood test does."

"Whatever. That's not the only thing. How could a fake name you and I just made up be my real name, complete with a title?"

Adrian opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. He had nothing, and Arianna knew it.

"It must be my real name. Here's a better question, though; how did this machine even know who I was? It's been down here for who knows how long," she reasoned.

"That information requires three," the voice repeated.

"Is there anything that doesn't?" Arianna snapped, getting very irritated with the unhelpful voice.

"Yes," it replied.

They waited for several seconds before realizing it wasn't going to continue. "Will you tell us that information?"

"That information requires three," the voice repeated again, this time with a smug tone.

Adrian eyed Arianna curiously. "If I didn't know better, I'd say the voice likes getting on your nerves."

A hearty laugh rang out. "I do indeed," the voice said.

Both of their eyebrows shot up. "You're sentient?"

"That information requires three," the voice said. Then it snickered.

Arianna glared at the ceiling. "I'm so done with this! I didn't come down here to be mocked by a machine!"

Adrian rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I'll show you both then," Arianna growled, lighting a fireball in her hand. "Let's see how you like this!" she cried, firing the fireball at the middle screen. The impact echoed with impressive force, a cloud of smoke bursting forth. Arianna crossed her arms and smirked.

"I'll do that again unless you start giving us some answers," she declared with a dangerous tone.

"Uh, Arianna? It's probably not a good idea to attack her," Adrian cautioned.

"Adrian of Arendelle is correct. I am mandated to protect myself from everything," the voice said. "Even you, Protector."

The smoke cleared, revealing a charred hole in the black stone screen. This further fueled Arianna's ego, prompting her to make a stupid decision.

"You and what army?" she goaded the voice.

Adrian introduced his palm to his forehead.

The voice sighed. "I should have expected this. I've forgotten how stubborn you are." Just as it said this, the hole filled itself in.

Arianna's eyebrows raised, both at the repair and the voice's accidental admission. "You know me?"

"More than you can possibly imagine. Unfortunately, given what you are like, I'll have to ask you to leave," the voice replied.

"Nope. Not going anywhere until you tell me more," Arianna said, standing up straighter and lighting another fireball.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Oh well, enjoy the Guardian, and don't let the door hit you on the way out," the voice said with a chuckle.

"What's the Guardian?" Arianna questioned.

"A dragon," the voice replied, almost amused.

"A dragon?" Adrian repeated.

Arianna waved away his fear over her shoulder. "Pfft, 'a dragon'. They don't exist."

An angry roar sounded from the hallway they'd come in from.

"You were saying?"

"There's no way. They don't exist!" Arianna insisted, right before a giant orange lizard with red scales and wings entered the main hallway about three entryways away from them.

"Really? Because I think he wants to disagree!" Adrian yelled, running and hiding behind a pillar.

"A trick. It must be!" Arianna exclaimed in disbelief, even as the dragon glared at her. "It's just some kind of hologram," she finally dismissed.

The dragon seemed to raise an eyebrow and turn it's head sideways, letting out a series of grunts.

"I don't know what a hologram is, but I think he's laughing at you," Adrian said.

"It's not real!" Arianna insisted, turning her head to the scientist and throwing up her hands. Just as she did this, a huge blast of fire soared through them like goalposts, causing the light hair on her arms to smoke. Of course, her face took on a look of shock, eyes wide, as her head snapped back to take in the _very _real dragon.

"Goal!" the voice said in a sing-song tone.

"Okay, I believe you! It's real!" Arianna cried out, diving sideways towards Adrian. Barely a second later another blast tore through where she had previously stood, dissipating with a boom upon the far wall.

"Don't suppose any of those books in the library told you how to fight a dragon?" Arianna asked, peeking around the edge of the doorway.

"I didn't even think dragons existed, much less know how to defeat one!" Adrian protested.

Ducking her head behind the pillar once more, Arianna winced when another fireball soared through the space her head previously occupied, close enough to singe the hair on their arms. "Well we need to do something!"

Suddenly a thought occurred to the scientist. "Wait, you control fire, right?"

"That's the assumption we're going with, yes," Arianna said, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"So do something!" Adrian pressed.

"Like what?"

Adrian donned an 'are-you-serious' face. "FIREBALLS ARE MADE OF FIRE!" he pointed out with a yell.

"Oh, right!" Arianna cried in realization. She jumped up, lunged sideways into the hallway with a roll, and came up on her knees with her face inches from a dragon snout. Understandably, she froze.

"Did you finish it?" Adrian asked, coming out from behind the pillar. Upon seeing the situation, he could only mutter "Oh."

"Nice dragon," Arianna mumbled helplessly, a pleading smile on her face. The dragon made that chuckling/grunting noise again, then batted Arianna on the side of the head with a paw. She was instantly knocked out, falling to the ground in a limp heap. It's gaze lingered on her almost apologetically for a few moments, before turning on Adrian.

"Uh… Good dragon?" Adrian tried, holding up his hands in surrender.

The dragon chuckled again.

* * *

**A/N: I'm not dead. Just very busy.**


End file.
